


Runaways

by Benwilson



Category: Glee, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Comic Book Level Violence, F/M, Gen, Human Experimentation, Minor Character Death, Out With A Bang Big Bang, Post-Season 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-06 21:41:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 56,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4237602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benwilson/pseuds/Benwilson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world stopped moving the day that Captain America destroyed three Hellicarriers. But for some people, the terror of S.H.I.E.L.D. started much sooner. Jake, Marley, Unique and Ryder were taken three months ago, and forced to undergo horrific experimentation. With no chance at fighting the people who took them, and nobody who they can turn to, they're left with one choice.</p><p>Runaway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Runaways 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for the Out With A Bang Big Bang! If you like this story, or even if you don't, please check out the other stories in the collection! A lot of people put in a lot of effort!
> 
> The art below was created by monkeybutton who has been the most fantastic artist to work with during this challenge. You can find more of monkeybutton's artwork at: monkeybutton.tumblr.com. 
> 
> The fan-mix for this story was created by one of my biggest inspirations in fandom: Patchfire. You can download the fan-mix either at Livejournal here: http://patchfire.livejournal.com/769131.html  
> or, directly at Dropbox here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l1aodnqgdmkt1r8/Runaways.zip?dl=0

**_Runaways_**

 

The eagle insignia was mocking him.

 

Ryder couldn't do anything about it though, from the corner of his cell. His focus was on pressing his hands between his knees and trying to keep them from shaking. It was the only way he could feel normal. If he could control the shaking, everything was fine, and he was just locked in a room. Everybody shaked sometimes, and if he could control it, it was almost as though he could control what was happening to him. But there was nothing he could do when the full body shakes would hit. All he could do then, was fall wherever he had been stood, and shake until he blacked out.

 

At first, the people who had locked them up seemed to pay attention to him when the shaking got really bad. They'd take him to the infirmary, and he'd get enough food that he didn't feel like he was starving.

 

They didn't come anymore. Just let him ride it out.

 

At first, he'd thought he was alone in the facility. Well, him and a couple of dozen random strangers from all over the world. Those people he'd met when the guards would make them run around the hallways for exercise. But then he ran into Jake in the communal showering area. At first he thought he'd been dreaming. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he accidentally dreamed about Jake soaping up in the shower. But the cold water broke him out of that. He'd been ready to run over and ask him what was going on, when he remembered the guards standing in the doorway. The electric batons would definitely hurt. Jake looked like he had been on the wrong end of a few beatings himself. His entire body was bruised, and he pulled his right leg after him as though he couldn't control the muscles there.

 

Ryder opened his eyes again, forcing himself out of the memory. The chances he got to see Jake were few and far between. While everyone else was forced to do exercise together, Jake was confined to his room far too often for Ryder's comfort. And he'd always come out with another part of his body acting like it wasn't really connected to the rest.

 

The eagle insignia was still there, plastered on one of the walls in the cell, and on the wall outside his door's metal bars. It was obvious who had taken them, but Ryder couldn't wrap his head around it.

 

S.H.I.E.L.D.

 

The heroes of the battle of New York.

 

But they weren't protecting people here, were they? Ryder had seen boys during their runs who were no older than 12. He'd seen one, a French boy no older than 13, escape his cell somehow and try to run away. The guards caught him just outside Ryder's cell and shot him in the back of the head. Ryder still hadn't been able to stop and really absorb what had happened. He doubted he ever would. Every moment he wasn't shaking or doing something they insisted he had to do, he was spending trying to find a way out. Trying to make himself stronger so that when he found a way out, he wouldn't be caught as easily.

 

But there were people talking during the runs and meals they sometimes shared. Saying that if you found a way to stop whatever was happening to you, to control it, they let you go free. At least, that was the best case scenario. Others said you'd be killed. And more still said that you were moved upstairs. But they only got to talk during runs around the corridors every couple of days, and it was hard when people barely spoke the same languages.

 

His hand suddenly wrenched itself free of his knees and started to shake more violently, all the way up to the shoulder. He grit his teeth, as it seemed to travel all around his body like an electric shock, leaving his body shaking wherever it passed. He pushed himself away from the wall to stop himself beating his head against it, but the world was going fuzzy and there was the feeling of weightlessness. He waited for the moment that he would black out, but it wasn't coming and his body was twisting unnaturally as he felt something just out of reach.

 

The guards burst in seconds later, and shoved him down onto the bed, forcing a needle into his arm.

 

And everything went black.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Jake could remember where he'd been taken. They had been riding on the bus. It was a longer commute to Jake and Marley's new schools, since their families couldn't just upheave their entire lives like Ryder's and Unique's had.They rode the bus together as far as they could, and separated when they had to. Marley would get off at her school, and then Jake would get off a few stops later. It had been a good system, that gave the two of them more time together.

 

But, that day, they hadn't even reached the halfway mark. They had barely left Lima, when the bus was pulled over and a man boarded, waving a S.H.I.E.L.D. badge at everyone. Jake felt his skin crawl, as he took in the military way the man moved between the seats, the gun at his side drawing all of Jake's attention. The agent paused for half a second next to them, and Jake'sunease was at an unbearable level.

 

He continued all the way to the back slowly, and then back down to the driver, leaning in and whispering to him. The driver nodded, and took a right turn off of the bus route onto a side road that lead towards Palm street. Jake did what his mom had always told him. Look down. Look non threatening. Hands in plain sight.

 

The agent still stopped next to him anyway. Marley looked up, staring at the man with her big doe eyes, as the man gestured for them to stand up and then directed them towards the front of the bus, his hand on his gun.

 

Jake did as he asked, standing up and leaving his bag. He could get it back from the last school on the routelater, he told himself. Holding onto it would make it look like he had a weapon.

 

As they were lead out into the street, the agent gestured them over to the side of the road and Marley clung to him. All around, other agents had appeared with nastier looking guns.

 

"Okay, stand apart," the agent grunted, gesturing with his gun. Marley squeezed Jake's hands tighter, and the agent glared, raising the gun. "I said..."

 

"Marley, do what he says," Jake said quietly and quickly, yanking his hand **s** away. She looked at him, almost looking betrayed, but as a few safeties clicked off, a sense of understanding seemed to spread across her face and she let the agent march them further apart, while another started to scan him with a small device. It beeped, and the same thing happened when he scanned Marley.

 

"Two of them. A good catch." The agent said, putting the device to one side. "Orders?"

 

"No witnesses."

 

Jake blinked and turned to look at the bus as another agent attached something to the underside. Then he walked to the front and gestured for them to move along. The entire vehicle started to roll forward, and turned left onto Palm. A few minutes passed, and if Jake was right, they'd soon be travelling back onto West street.

 

He let the agent force him onto his knees, and the cold dread hit him like a freight train. Somebody pulled out a syringe and moved towards him.

 

In the distance, there was a massive explosion.

 

Jake tried to get back to his feet, the panic starting to overtake him. This wasn't a police thing. Who knew what was in the vial! And that bus... They'd killed so many people! He had to escape, he had to do something! But before he could move, something cracked him in the back of the head **,** and somewhere in the distance,Marley was screaming as a syringe was forced into **his** arm **.**

 

When he woke up, he was in constantagony. For the first week, he hadn't even been able to move. Gravity wasn't even moving his skull from side to side, and the people who were moving around him sounded so very far away. But ever present, stamped on the wall, was the mark of S.H.I.E.L.D **.**

 

He was put in a cell at the end of his second week, when he had full control of his body again. But his muscles hurt all the time, like they were being pulled in every direction. Unless he was focusing on his body, he felt like he was leaving parts of his body behind him.

 

And he hadn't even seen Marley. Or, Unique or Kitty. He was assuming they were here too, since he'd seen Ryder. Three members of the New New Directions had already been picked up, there was every chance that the other two would be as well. But he had no idea why they had been taken. Every time he saw Ryder, he was shaking.

 

Maybe they were all ill? That was his first thought but... The way they were being kept, and the way that they were being underfed? That wasn't exactly doctor-like behavior.

 

They were like test subjects. Something had been in that syringe. They were test subjects for some kind of biological weapons or something.

 

The **y** were just lab rats.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Marley was smarter than she had been. After the injection, it was like a switch had been flipped and things made more sense these days. It helped that she had super powers now. She was a technopath. That was what her file called it. She could step outside of her body, and into computers at will.

 

As she was lying in her cot, she could read the information on any computer in the building. Perhaps in the world if she had enough time. She could almost _see_ the inside of this base's computer, but it wasn't a machine. It was like walking inside a building, surrounded by grey corridors and metal doors. And behind each door was a room, with a book of information in it. Every piece of knowledge this S.H.I.E.L.D. base had collected on them. She knew logically that this was all just her way of understanding what her brain was seeing, and that really she was picking knowledge out of thin air. But if it worked, it worked.

 

S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't worked it out yet, thanks to the bump in intelligence. They thought she couldn't access her powers yet, maybe that she didn't even know she had them. That was a conscious effort to maintain. Inside her mind, through the cameras in the cells, she could see Ryder shaking and Jake's body falling apart bit by bit. She could feel the strange energy humming through the cells, forcing their bodies to continue to change. Every time, it was all she could do to stop herself from throwing open the doors and letting everyone free. That wouldn't do any good right now, survival was the first priority and then she could work to save everyone.

 

She could see the outside world too, by following the internet connection. That was on the very edge of her ability. She couldn't affect anything out there, no matter what she tried to do. But she could see it, and she could wait for S.H.I.E.L.D. to mess up.

 

It was S.H.I.E.L.D. At first she'd hoped that it wasn't, that it was all some kind of evil plot to make them think it was S.H.I.E.L.D. But every guard was wearing a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, every document was signed by S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel. Everything screamed S.H.I.E.L.D. at her when she fell too deeply into the complex's computer system.

 

One thing she couldn't work out was the way they had been given powers. There was no mention of it in any of the files, and Marley had had a month to go through each page in detail. Every single page, on every digital copy, had the source of their powers blacked out. And her memories of getting these powers were fuzzy. Like... a half forgotten dream.

 

She usually was only half aware of what was going on outside the facility, allowing her to function pretty normally. It was in the middle of one of her runs when the first reports came in. Captain America was fighting S.H.I.E.L.D. in the middle of Washington, DC. For a moment, every bit of her enhanced intelligence failed her, and she completely gave up on her mortal body, slipping into the pit of the internet, following links and websites. She didn't get very far, as they injected something into her, and she gasped out in pain.

 

The next thing she remembered was waking up a couple of weeks later, with reports of Captain America destroying three Helicarriers buzzing in her mind. And beyond that, the knowledge that HYDRA had infiltrated SHIELD from it's conception. All over the world, S.H.I.E.L.D. bases were being raided, and with a little mental stretching, she could find out the list of bases that the US militaries would be raiding, by accessing the Pentagon's secret server.

 

She's already memorised the address for this base, from a few pieces of information in their mainframe, and her heart beat faster when she recognised it on the list of bases to be raided . In the next hour or so, in fact. And S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't evacuated yet.

 

She smirked, flexing her hands in the real world as she slipped back into the base's systems, and started flicking switches, getting her bearings controlling the computer systems.

 

The US Army was about to get a little inside help.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

The room was cold, and the metal table he was strapped to dug into his body painfully. Ryder felt as though he had been here forever, but... he couldn't remember ever being here before. He was held onto the table by thick leathery straps, and his shirt had been removed. All that covered him were a thin pair of hospital pants. He felt completely exposed.

 

"Subject 209," A woman in a labcoat said from the otherside of a glass screen. There was ten or twelve of them hidden behind it. "is to undergo another course of treatment to improve his ability. Currently defined as teleportation-"

 

"That will be enough, Madeline." The man with a monacle said calmly, stepping out from behind the glass. "Mr... Lynn, correct?"

 

"Where am I?" Ryder asked, his voice hoarse. "Who are you?"

 

"I am Baron Von Strucker. It is a pleasure to meet you again." The man said, smiling politely as he walked around the lab.

 

"I don't..."

 

"Remember? I am aware." Baron Von Strucker paused by a nasty looking staff, lifting it from it's holster. "The mind is a delicate thing. But we do what we must to unlock our potentials, yes?"

 

Ryder strained against the straps but he couldn't move an inch as the baron placed the tip of the spear against his chest. And then the world seemed to explode into pain.

 

"Yes, potential. Hidden behind tampering in your mind, but it is still there." The Baron continued, but Ryder could barely hear him as static seemed to scream in his ears. "The Moondragon tried to destroy your kind, to lock your strength behind broken mental links. But with the Gem of the Mind, I can perform miracles. I can reconnect you."

 

As he finished speaking, he pressed the staff hard enough against his chest that he drew blood. Ryder started to scream as his body shook against the table, and then he was gone. He was in the grip of a giant, coiling serpent that glared down at him. It spoke in quick hushed whispers, straight into his brain. Stories about a galactic battle against a mad titan. Of six Gems that were used to change reality. Words flew past his head. Mutant, Inhuman, Gods, Magic...

 

And then he reappeared, slamming against the glass screen hard enough to knock him off his feet. He turned, his eyes settling on the stone in the scepter. The Mind Gem. He needed to get his hands on it, take it to...the Avengers! Or... Someone... Someone who could use it to fix...

 

He jerked forwards, ripping through time and space to get his hands on the rod. But he couldn't move faster than a thought. The Mind Gem reached out and grabbed him in the air, holding him steady.

 

"Ah...Another step forward. Soon you'll be able to access your full potential outside of our little sessions." The Baron smirked, lowering the staff. "But now, alas, you must sleep and allow us to mold your mind to our liking. Sleep."

 

Ryder Lynn woke up the next day, with no memory of a dragon, or a gem, or even the Baron. But the shaking came more and more frequently.

 

* * *

 

 

Unique had been brought to the second floor and locked in her room. She wasn't allowed to leave her room anymore. She was forced to sit in complete darkness day after day. The door to her cell didn't let any breeze past it, and all the heavy metal locks were obviously meant to keep her inside.

 

She was dangerous now. She knew it, and they knew it. Ever since she tore down the door for her cell on the first floor, crinkling the metal under a single hand as though it was tinfoil, she had known she could do that to a person.

 

If she had been quicker, or smarter, she'd have used that chance to run. But instead she had stood, frozen in panic as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents swarmed in on them.

 

They were making superheroes. Not like the bow-guy with the nice arms, or like Tony Stark, but people with enhanced abilities. That's why they were being taken, and why they were being kept down here. So that S.H.I.E.L.D. could work out what made them special. Unique didn't know what to tell them. Until she was taken, she had never had any kind of enhanced strength. So... Maybe they were giving them powers, to make the process safe for the public, family friendly, all-american superhero. Obviously, Unique wasn't that.

 

So, they kept her in a dark room, and waited until she fell asleep to run more tests on her. Yet, other than the moment where she had ripped her cell apart, she hadn't been able to pull up any kind of strength again. It was like she'd exhuasted something inside herself. And S.H.I.E.L.D. probably knew what it was, and were stopping her getting it.

 

In the months since she'd arrived, her hair had grown out, which was lucky since they'd removed her wig and her dress, and left her in a unisex prison outfit. But she wasn't going to take this lying down. She'd find a way to get her strength back, and tear her way out of this place, and back out into the light.

 

* * *

 

 

It was the middle of the night, and like every day for the past three months, Ryder was sleeping in fits and starts. The first explosion forced him upright, and he rushed to the door as people began to scream. He pressed his hands on either side of the glass, as they started to shake again. He gritted his teeth, ready for the feeling of pain that usually acompanied the tremors, but instead he felt relief. As if somebody popped some kind of cap in his head, rather that feeling like he was going to explode. Outside his door, people were already running around, and guns were being fired, but Ryder just wanted to bask in the relief for a few second.

 

The mechanical whurr of the camera in the far corner of his cell caught his attention, and it beeped repeatedly, before a mechanical voice came through the speakers.

 

_"Ryder! You need to get to Jake!"_

 

For a moment, he thought he'd gone insane. Because as the voice continued, it sounded more and more like Marley. He moved away from the door on slightly shakey legs and the camera followed him. "Marley?" He asked in confusion, "Are you in the control room?"

 

_"No... Yes.... Kind of."_ The camera's light blinked off for a moment and then came back. _"You need to focus on Jake and just... Go!"_

 

Ryder nodded, focusing his attention on Jake. It was easy enough. He'd been thinking about him a lot recently, and he could pull up the mental image in seconds.

 

The conversations during the exercises the SHIELD agents had enforced had become more specific as people thinned out and were replaced. Superpowers. They were trying to create superheroes. There were stories of people being on fire, people with strength, or flight, or who had turned funny colors... But somehow S.H.I.E.L.D. had been stopping them using those powers. But maybe the explosion had changed something. Marley had been able to do something to get into the control center during whatever was going on. Maybe she knew something more about what he could do.

 

So, he closed his eyes and visualised Jake. Every part of him, even the bits he usually...didn't. Every mental image and then...

 

The shaking increased to the point where his feet were lifting off the floor. And then suddenly it stopped, and the air around him got really thin, forcing him to take in a deep breath. But even as he took the breath, it suddenly got unbearably thick, and he felt like he was choking on smoke. He opened his eyes, for a moment thinking nothing had happened because the floor was exactly the same.

 

But then he looked up, and had to fight off waves of nasuea.

 

Jake was laid on the bed, but... it was barely Jake. If he didn't know better, he would have thought it was thick liquid or melted rubber. A few dribbles rolled over the edge and slowly bounced up and down, almost like somebody breathing.

 

"Jake?" He asked, taking a few steps forward. Jake turned to look at him, his face pulling itself back into a general head shape as he blinked at Ryder wordlessly. "Jake... man, I know this is probably a really bad way of saying it, but... You need to pull yourself together, man."

 

"Can't..." Jake rasped, shaking his head, "So... tired..."

 

His head started to melt down, and Ryder paniced moving to his side. "Look, Jake... This is some...crappy version of the super-soldier serum or something man! You're not going to let that take you down, are you?"

 

Jake frowed, tilting his head at an unnatural angle to look up at Ryder. "Super...?"

 

"Yeah, so... You need to get up." Ryder insisted, holding his hand out for Jake to take.

 

"How did you get here?" Jake asked, his voice getting a little stronger as his body started to force itself upright. His hand clasped Ryder, who forced himself to smile despite the oily feeling of Jake's hand trying to keep itself together. It only added to the horrific sight of his body inflating and settling into a more nature shape. His arms were a few inches too long, and his legs hadn't formed but... It was almost Jake again.

 

"I can teleport! Marley told me," He turned to look for Jake's camera. "Marley?"

 

_"Jake has super-elasticity. That's why he's having trouble staying in a human shape."_ Marley's voice was distant and sounded exhausted, _"I'm a technopath. I can control computers. But I'm... so tired."_

 

"You've done great, Marley," Ryder called out, helping Jake to his feet. The legs reformed instinctively, and Ryder let him lean on him. "Open the door and we'll come find you!"

 

_"No... I need to find Unique," Marley insisted, "I can see her file, but she's not on any of the cameras. And there's nothing specific about where they moved her in the files."_

 

"If she was a success, they wouldn't want the army being able to find her file and know how to beat her." Jake turned to Ryder, "Where is she? We can go and help her."

 

_"I'm in the medical lab. The scientists have barrivaded themselves in here, because somethings outside. Save Unique, I can follow you on the cameras and..."_ There was a brief crackle and then complete silence. Ryder waited for a moment, feeling his hand start to shake again. Jake grabbed it tightly, looking at him in concern.

 

Ryder ignored the entirely different kind of shiver that ran through his body. No. Marley was alive, and here, and Jake's girlfriend. And Ryder liked... Girls. Mostly. Usually.

 

But the tremor quickly came back under control, with the warmth of Jake's hand and his eyes drawing the attention away from it. The door suddenly burst inwards, and sparked as the camera exploded and every speaker in the building screamed with static.

 

"This way!" Jake insisted, pulling him by the hand into the hallway. They ran full sprint towards the halls which were full of blood and bodies and silence.

 

Until it wasn't silent.

 

There was the sound of something huge moving around the corner, and if Ryder remembered right, that was exactly outside the medical lab.

 

Jake glanced around the corner, and looked at Ryder eyes wide. "Is that the Abomination?"

 

Ryder glanced too, and quickly threw himself back behind the wall nodding. Back in the hallway, there was the sound of something hitting stone, and if Ryder was right the stone had lost. Then the pacing continued, back and forth, closer and further away.

 

"He's still weak...." Ryder hissed to Jake who looked at him confused, "They must've been keeping him under sedation or something. If we go quickly..."

 

"Dude, we're not going to try and fight the Proto-Hulk," Jake hissed, putting his hand on Ryder's chest and pushing him backwards. "You can teleport, right? How did you get to me?"

 

"Uh.... I thought about you, and then I just...." Ryder made a vague gesture with his free hand, and Jake grabbed that one too, reminding Ryder exactly how hard that one was starting to shake as well. "Even if we got in, we can't fight them all." He said, trying to ignore the unnatural shape of Jake's arm.

 

Jake shook his head and noticed the elbow. For a moment his arm went slack and then his face twisted in concentration as he pulled it all back together. "I'll deal with it. Just get us inside."

 

Ryder nodded, closing his eyes and pulling up the image of Marley in his mind. Every performance, every conversation... Her smile, her big doe like eyes. Even the less... innocent thoughts which felt like sacrelige whilst holding her boyfriends hand.

 

The air thinned and grew heavy, but he didn't wait for it to equilise before opening his eyes and tackling the nearest person, wrestling the gun from her hands. They toppled over the portable medicine table, and the scientist went slack as blood wet her shirt. Ryder didn't have time to focus on it, as he grabbed the gun and spun around shooting someone else.

 

Jake was in the corner of his sight, and was fairing even better as he was. His fists were lashing all over the room, the arms connecting them to his body turning almost to ribbons, and knocking people around. Some fell onto viscious looking equipment and didn't get back up. He was like some kind of silly putty man, only more dangerous. When one of the scientists finally got a shot off, the bullet just seemed to bounce off Jake without him even realising.

 

Ryder started shooting carefully, taking out each of the remaining guards, and Jake moved to where Marley was curled into a ball on a small bed. Ryder flicked the safety on to the gun instinctively sliding it into his pocket. As the fight calmed to a stop, Ryder could finally hear the rest of the world over the pulsing of blood in his ears. Alarms were going off everywhere, and screams were spreading around the building. His own breath was loud in his ears, but Jake looked like he'd barely worked up a sweat.

 

Jake crouched down to meet her eyes, as the machines suddenly turned off, and Marley's eyes started to open. Ryder walked around the bed, and winced as he took her in. She had blood all over her face and chin, and was still out of it. She tried to press her hands against the table to sit up, but Ryder and Jake quickly moved to help her sit up. "You're... Okay?" She whispered, narrowing her eyes.

 

"Yeah," Jake nodded, looking her over and then looking around. "I think... We're okay."

 

"For now," Ryder muttered, looking over at the door, "there's still a Gamma Irradiated monster out there." He looked up at the window, where the Abomination was staring in at him. "We need to get out of here!"

 

Abomination grinned, his face splitting horrifically and oozing green blood at the corner of his mouth. Ryder instinctively reached out for Jake and Marley. He needed to get them anywhere. To Unique! Unique, in her dress and wig and...

 

But rather than the sensation of the air changing, he suddenly felt empty. The air seemed to rush past his face, and then he hit the wall. Marley let out a yelp of pain, and he cracked his skull against the brick work. He couldn't tell which way was up and which was down.

 

And then the door came shattering in.

 

* * *

 

 

The lights had come on about five minutes ago, but Unique hadn't moved, just staring at the doors and letting the energy tingle under her skin. Outside, people were being pulled out of their cells, sometimes fighting, sometimes unconscious. She could tell by the noise. The sound of heavy doors slamming, and people yelling at each other. The vague smell of electricity in the air.

 

She waited until they had walked down the hall again, with whoever it was in the cell next to her, before she stood up and walked in confident strides to her door, lifted her foot and slammed it into the metal. It wasn't lady-like, but it definitely did the trick. The door didn't have time to creak or groan, just a quick shriek and then the metal spiralled off into the hallway and crushed a S.H.I.E.L.D. guard.

 

The other guards in the hall turned to look at her, firing their guns on instinct. Unique flinched, waiting for the bullets to rip into her, but they all but bounced off her skin. The first couple bruised instantly, but each one after hurt less and less, until she was able to start walking forward again. The guards scattered, rushing down the corridor and slammed down a blast door at the end. It landed in three heavy clunks. One was obviously the door itself, but the other two must've been... Deadbolts? They were that scared of her. Good.

 

Her hair fell in front of her face, and she flicked it away with a grim look, looking around. The corridor was completely empty now, and she started to look around. The first step had been the easiest, escaping her cell, but now she had to find Marley. She'd seen her downstairs.

 

"Get Him!"

 

Unique turned her head to a door she had already walked past on the way down towards the agents. She didn't get chance to see anything at first though, as a bolt of energy cracked into her face and she fell backwards. As she forced herself upright again, she could see a man with smoking hands lowering them, as a man with a rams head charged towards her at blinding speed. For a moment, she paused looking for an agent who was guiding them. But there actions seemed to be purely based on panic and adrenaline.

 

"You're so rude!" She hissed, forcing herself back onto her feet and grabbing the man's horns. With a swift motion she cracked his head against a wall. He fell to the ground dazed, and she started to run towards the other man. He threw his hand at her again and a blast of energy smashed off her shoulder, jerking it back. She continued to charge through the pain, hitting him at full force. With a sickening crunch she sent him flying back into the corridor.

 

She didn't stop though, running through the corridor. These powered people had to have come from somewhere...

 

Her answer was found in the room at the end of this corridor. It was circular, that was the first thing Unique noticed when she stopped inside it. But the center of the room didn't have a floor or ceiling, so it looked like a huge balcony. It was seperated off by a metal barrier, but Unique could see the floor above and below.

 

Everywhere around her, people with superpowers were freaking out, and fighting. At first, Unique couldn't work out why. There was no sign of guards. But the reason became apparent when she leant over the edge and looked up.

 

The very top two floors were partially obscured by a thick green gas. And the gas was spreading and dropping. The people beneath, on the very lowest floor, were trying to break through the the floor beneath them. She knew there was another floor beneath them. She had cloudy memories of being dragged up the stairs to her new cell.

 

She wasn't going to wait to die. She threw herself over the edge of the guard rail in one movement and started to pound away on the stone floor with everyone else. The ground splintered a little, but she wasn't having any more effect that anyone else, and the gas was still growing closer. She looked around for anyone to help, and she finally caught sight of a tiny girl who was bright pink, who was firing bolts of energy at the gas. She quickly moved over, trying to look as unthreatening as possible.

 

"Hi. My name's Unique. What's your name?"

 

"Sandra..." The girl choked out, her eye wet and panicked, "we're going to die!"

 

"Girl, I am not dying in polyester," Unique said with mock confidence, reaching up to brush her hair from her face. "We just need to work together, okay? So, I'm going to hit this part of the ground, and you need to fire at this spot right next to it.

 

The girl nodded softly, and Unique started to pound on another area of the ground. The girl's blasts sped up the process, but it wasn't enough still.

 

She looked up. The gas was now at the level she had started, only two above them. The 'second floor' was almost an entire complex of it's own. She started to grab people at random. "Help me focus on this point!"

 

"Sure thing, dude." One said, obviously gifted with superstrength by the rippling muscles. She felt a wave of naseua at being misgendered, but knew that it would have to wait. Survival first. So the people with strength started hitting, and the people with energy powers started shooting, falling into a quick rhythem.

 

Inch by painful inch it was giving way. And the more successful they were, the more people tried to help. The gas continued to lower, and people were starting to drop, but everyone kept hitting.

 

Until it was just Unique and Sandra left. The ground was thin now, but Unique couldn't raise her body high enough to hit it. She quickly snatched up Sandra, and held her tight, setting her feet on either side of the crack that lead to the floor below.

 

"Hold your breath! When we get up high, shoot at the ceiling!" She called, and the little girl nodded as Unique forced her feet to find purchase and then leapt into the air with every last bit of strength left. They reached at least the second highest floor, and the little girl in her arms let loose a stream of energy, speeding up their descent enough that when they hit the ground, it parted like tissue paper.

 

The ground beneath them on the next floor buckled, but she could breath again!

 

_"Containment Breach in Corridor B-3x. Lowering Blast Doors."_

 

The hum of machinery filled the hallway as the large metal doors started to lower. Unique threw Sandra through the gap instantly, wincing at the way the small girl bounced a little, before Unique started to run herself. She just got underneath, her pants leg getting stuck as the whole thing seemed to seal itself. and she had to rip it off. Sandra had struggled to her knees, and Unique pressed a hand lightly against the metal. At first it was un-naturally cold. And then suddenly, she was jerking her hand away as it seemed to rocket in temperature.

 

Burning away the evidence.

 

"UNIQUE!"

 

The scream came from the other direction, and Unique was running before she even thought it through.

 

Somebody she knew... Somebody who knew her was in danger.

 

* * *

 

 

Everything hurt. Every part of Jake's body had been stretched out of proportion, and the Abomination was still trying to tear him in half. So far, he hadn't been able to get ahold of Jake and keep hold of him. But Jake wasn't sure if he could keep pushing hiself like this. He was exhausted.

 

Right now, he had a leg wrapped around Abomination's throat, an arm around the creature's left leg. His neck was stretched out to wrap around the Abomination's right arm, and most of the rest of his body was wrapped around the creature's right leg. But the Abomination was tearing at his body with his free left hand, and Jake was little more than an annoyance.

 

And the Abomination knew it. Jake's stretched out limbs didn't have any kind of super strength, and the longer this fight when on, the weaker he felt. If he could, he would be choking the green creature, or making more of an attempt to trip it over. Marley and Ryder were doing what they could, circling out of the way and shooting him with the guns they had taken from the scientists.

 

Finally, the Abomination reached over and grabbed Jake's head, pulling it from his other arm, and threw it like a baseball through the doors of the medical lab. It was almost cartoonlike, but horrifically so, as hhis neck thinned to almost nothing. It easily passed through the door and cracked against the opposite wall. He shook his head and started to pull back when he saw a flash of movement.

 

"Unique...!" He yelled, but before he could see if she heard, he was jerked back. The Abomination was moving again, and he had to focus on saving the other two people.

 

He pulled parts of his body away, and then quickly wrapped himself around the Abominations legs tightly as the creature started to charge at Marley. The Abomination tripped, twisting in the air and kicking Jake off as he hit the ground.

 

The two collapsed into a pile, and Jake pulled away, trying to turn back into a human rather than a pile of rope.

 

"No!"

 

Jake turned his head in confusion, just catching the Abomination charging at him. But a fist swung from behind, hitting Abomination with a noise like thunder. The creature stumbled backwards, holding it's jaw in shock. Jake looked in wonder, as Unique stepped in front of him and radiating anger. The Abomination shook out it's head, and Unique rushed forward, punching him in the jaw, and then bringing her knee up into his groin.

 

Jake winced and looked away, as there was the sound of a wall breaking, and the fighting drifted away.

 

"We're winning..." Marley said, voice in awe. And for a moment Jake believed her.

 

And then Unique came sailing into the room, crashing into the ground hard enough to crater it.

 

"Okay. You've had your fun..." The Abomination snarled, as it walked through the hole in the wall, cracking it's jaw back into place loud enough for everyone to hear. "Now I'm gonna tear off your arms!"

 

Ryder rushed forward, and for one crazy moment, Jake thought he was going to try and fight the Abomination. But instead he grabbed Jake's hand and grabbed Marley as Maley grabbed Unique, crating a link between all four of them.

 

"Unique?"

 

It was so quiet, that Jake thought he imagined it, but Unique's head whipped around to look through the doorway right as the Abomination started to charge.

 

And then, they were gone.

 

 

 


	2. Runaways 2

There was the rythmic pounding of something hitting wood underneath his head. Ryder wrinkled up his face in dicomfort, and forced his eyes open. He could recognise the roof immediately. The Auditorium in McKinley High. He'd got used to looking up at it when the Glee Club ended, and they would all meet here and talk about plans to restart the group. And slowly, it would slide towards just general discussions about what was next for everybody. It was safe. It was... Home.

 

"Ryder?" Unique's voice came from above, and Ryder forced himself to turn his head to the side. "Ryder! Oh, thank god!" She said, kneeling down next to him. She wasn't in the prison uniform anymore. The black dress looked like a piece of costume. Which would make sense if they were back in the Auditorium. He tried to smile, but his face muscles hurt and he gave up. The pounding had stopped, and quickly, Jake and Marley moved into sight. They were wearing different clothes, or costume, too.

 

Which reminded him.

 

He forced his head up and looked himself over, before lowering it and looking at them all expectantly. "Who... who changed me?"

 

Jake sheepishly raised his hand, looking a little uncomfortable. Ryder felt himself blushing a little, and took a deep breath looking towards Unique. She offered him a hand, and helped him to sit up right.

 

"We didn't want to look like escaped convicts." Marley said softly, reaching out to stroke a hand along his arm in a comforting way. "They don't have any trackers inside us. They can't follow us. You did it."

 

"Yeah." Unique said, with a sad look over her shoulder. "You did it."

 

"I managed to land us in the Auditorium?" Ryder asked Marley, trying to avoid whatever that negative was. They had survived! As soon as he could stand up, they should have a party!

 

"No, you kind of dumped us in the middle of the choir room, which is a computer lab now." Marley winced, looking awkwardly at Jake. "And then there was this football player, who had the keys to the lab and the auditorium... So I tried to flirt with him..."

 

"Which was when we discovered that there are gay football players now," Jake muttered, narrowing his eyes at Marley, "which meant I had to flirt with this creepy post-modern gay."

 

"It was hilarious," Marley said, leaning in to whisper like they were spys discussing state secrets. "Jake did this thing, where he leaned on the door frame and rubbed his hip to pull up his shirt, but it just looked weird."

 

"Thank you, Marley!" Jake hissed, rolling his eyes. "So I haven't flirted with a lot of guys lately!"

 

"Here," Unique said quietly as the other two descended into a whispering arguement. Ryder looked down at what she was offering, and took the tissue. She gestured to her nose, and he wiped at it.

 

It came away covered in blood.

 

"Why am I bleeding from my nose?" Ryder frowned, looking at the tissue, "What does the whole teleporting thing have to do with my nose?"

 

"It just happens when we push too hard..."

 

"Are you four ever coming out?"

 

Ryder staggered to his feet with Unique's help as a very familiar blonde pushed open the curtains. Kitty stood in the open space with her hand on her hip and looked him up and down once with her dismissive face before a wide grin split that mask and she rushed towards them all as a group, pulling them into a tight hug.

 

"How did you find us?"

 

"Spencer told me you came here," She said, waving her hand dismissivly. Ryder looked around for any hint of recognition, but nobody else seemed to know who 'Spencer' was. "The gay guy that Jake completely failed to seduce?" She pressed, and understanding dawned on them all as Jake frowned.

 

"I didn't fail..."

 

"Oh, you super failed." She shoved him gently. "We get along well. He's one of the people I've been feeling out about restarting the Glee Club."

 

Ryder grinned, shaking his head at her. She wasn't giving up on that idea easily, and Ryder wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to sing and dance, or if it was because she was so intent on pissing Sue Sylvester off. Or because Kitty had nothing else. That was a sobering thought.

 

"So... Why are you back? You've got to know that Sue'll murder you on the spot if she catches you on school grounds. And you haven't called me in..." She trailed off as if trying to remember something, "Months? I haven't thought about you in months? And why is Ryder bleeding all over a piece of costume?"

 

"Kitty..." Jake looked to everyone for support for a moment, "We're going to have to tell you about some stuff, and you'll have to believe us. But first we need somewhere we can hide."

 

"Why not go home?" Kitty huffed, rolling her eyes, "I mean-"

 

"You've seen our parents?" Marley cut in, her eyes widening, "Where? What happened with them?"

 

"Yeah, I see your and Jake's mom all the time. I just... Never spoke to them. Or... Though about it..." Kitty squinted at them for a moment, before shaking her head violently, "That's really weird. I can't think of a reason I wouldn't ask them."

 

Marley sat down on the floor and Ryder watched her eyes go vacant for a few seconds, before she rushed back to her feet. "They didn't file missing person reports! They haven't... They just carried on as usual!"

 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. must have done something to make them forget us." Unique said darkly, setting her jaw.

 

Ryder shook his head, looking to Jake for support. "That's ridiculous. I mean, why would they go through the effort..."

 

"Nobody wants a living weapon with a family." Jake said, with the same darkness in his eyes as Unique. "And whatever they did to Kitty could be swapped back because she was reminded of us. But our parents are surrounded by reminders... I don't..."

 

"We need to get out of here as soon as possible." Unique looked over to Ryder expectantly.

 

"I don't think Ryder is going to be taking us anywhere any time soon. And we're not going to get far on foot. Unless one of you knows how to steal a car." Marley looked at each of them for a moment.

 

"Look... I don't understand what's going on at all..." Kitty started, putting her hand on Marley's shoulder which sent a short stab of jealousy into Ryder's gut on instinct. He knew it was completely over between him and Marley, but still... "But you could hide in the building where the swimming pool used to be."

 

"What happened to the swimming pool? And the swimming team?" Unique asked, as she picked up a small bag. Everyone else seemed to be getting ready too, but Ryder just stood there with his tissue.

 

"Well, Sue's official reason was that the team was too homoerotic for the 'new' McKinley High. But apparently, whilst Berry was at the school, the swimming team was involved in Mr. Shuester's big proposal to Miss. Pillsbury, so..." Kitty mimed cutting her throat, watching as they gathered there bags . "And the bands gone. And the tech guys who used to do our big musical numbers. Sue is literally burning every trace of the Glee Club away she can."

 

"The pool should work," Ryder said to fill the silence of everyone getting ready, "But how are we getting there? I thought Sue was installing cameras everywhere before we... Before we left?"

 

Marley scrunched up her nose thinking about it, "I could knock them all out-"

 

"No," Jake said quickly to Marley, "we can't let them know where we are."

 

Everyone stood in silence, looking at each other waiting for someone else to come up with an idea. It was Kitty who finally stepped forward chewing on her lip as she thought and sized them all up. "I have an idea, I just need to call some people."

 

Jake rolled his eyes, "Kitty, the whole point is to make sure-"

 

"Listen, Puckerman. You are all already on Sue's radar. How did you get Ryder here? So, what we need to do is blend you into the crowd. And unfortunately, that means we're going to need the New New New Directions. And if your girlfriend can do something about the camera footage of you getting in here?"

 

"Done," Marley said softly, closing her eyes and slumping for a moment. "And I can do it again when we leave the room..."

 

"Okay, you all sit here. I'll be right back." Kitty said, looking pointedly at Jake before she pulled out her phone and stepped through the huge red curtains.

 

"How did you get rid of the footage?" Jake asked, frowning at Marley as he rubbed her back. Ryder understood his apprehension. One misstep and Sue would be here in minutes. Maybe even S.H.I.E.L.D. if whatever she did was too obvious.

 

"I just corrupted the file," Marley shrugged, "Sue uses really bad software, it could've happened at any time. Ryder, your nose."

 

Ryder sighed, dabbing at his nose again as it started to bleed again. They sat in silence, until Kitty returned.

 

"Okay," She said, pushing open the curtains widely, "I'd like for you to meet my Glee Club." She glanced over her shoulder and jerked her head towards the inside, letting two people through. Then she glared and another entered. The first two were a boy and girl wearing Cheerios uniforms and were obviously related, whilst the third was a boy in a letterman jacket who held himself like he was above them all.

 

"Who are those guys?" The guy in the letterman jacket asked, crossing his arms. "They were in the computer room..."

 

"There are all people who were part of the old Glee Club. Sue sent them all away after she shut it down, and she doesn't know they're here. And if she finds out, then everything so far is going to seem positively pleasant." Kitty finished sarcastically.

 

"Well, Principle Sylvester can be mighty intense, sure..." the girl cheerleader started, and paused as her brother picked up exactly where she left off.

 

"But we wouldn't call her unpleasant."

 

"Wendell and Darlene Hamillton, everybody," Kitty gestured vaguely and applauded, caused the two to look at her in tandem.

 

"I'm Mason..."

 

"And I'm Madison," the girl finished, smiling at the group. "It's so nice to meet you all."

 

"Nice to meet you too," Jake said, glancing at Kitty, "So why'd you..."

 

"The Incest Twins should have a spare uniform in their bags that you and Marley can wear. Since she gave over control of the Cheerioes to Roz, they became a none-entity." Kitty explained patronizingly.

 

"We'd sure be glad to help," Madison said brightly, pulling her gym bag of her shoulder, perfectly in synch with her brother and together they began to search through them.

 

"That's great and all, Kits, but why am I here. I don't bring spare clothes to school." The football player huffed, crossing his arms and smirking.

 

"Well, we all know that Sue can't look directly at gay things. So, you're going to flirt your way through the corridor with Ryder."

 

"And Unique?" Jake asked, in a clipped voice. Ryder wanted to point out that, hey! The flirting thing wasn't exactly an amazing way to get him out.

 

"I'm sure we have a Mercedes wig back here, somewhere..." Kitty glanced around pointedly, and Jake turned to look at a bag of wigs hidden under some fake foliage.

 

"Your entire plan kind of hinges on Sue being racist, and homophobic, and short-sighted." Marley pointed out as Jake and Unique started to lift out the wigs and choose between them.

 

"And?" Kitty asked, folding her arms.

 

"Just making sure we're all on the same page," Marley shrugged, and took the clothes Madison was offering. "We should all leave at different times, and meet at the swimming pool."

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

It had all been going so well. Jake and Unique had both made it to the swimming pool, relaying their safety to the group using Madison's phone. Marley gave them the signal that the power was flickering in the school and then they had stepped out into the hallways. Ryder paused, taking it all in for a moment. Everything felt the same. Same bright colors, same kind of students wandering around. It was almost as though they hadn't been gone for three months.

 

Before he could start to move in the right direction, the football player grabbed his shoulder and swung them around, starting to walk in the opposite direction.

 

"What..." He started to complain, but the football player shushed him andmaneuvered him into another corridor before he started to yank his letterman jacket off.

 

"The football team.... Just..." the football player shook out the jacket and then draped it over Ryder's shoulders, smoothing it down at the front for a moment. "Keep your head down and don't say anything."

 

Ryder held his tongue, resisting the urge to snap at Spencer. But he did as he was told, as the Football team walked quickly past them, exchanging high fives with Spencer and obviously ignoring Ryder. It was ridiculously humiliating for Ryder, but he resisted the urge to shove Spencer away and make a scene.

 

They passed them in moments, but Spencer didn't let go. Ryder tried to shuffle away, and Spencers fingers gripped more tightly into his shoulder. Ryder hissed with pain, and glared at Spencer. "What? We've got passed the football team. Who..."

 

"Where the football team is, Sam Evans isn't far behind." Spencer said, looking around as though Sam would leap from the shadows, "Kitty said he was in your glee club?"

 

Before Ryder could reply, another student turned around to look at Spencer, eyes wide. "Dude, didn't you hear? He was on the football field this morning, and then two S.H.I.E.L.D. guys picked him up in a jet and vanished. He's on TV right now, fighting this weird guy on stilts."

 

"Huh..." Spencer looked confused, but Ryder felt something twist in his guts. Sam was a member of S.H.I.E.L.D? It made no sense, but it was the only thing that he could come up with with the information he had been given. Had Sam been watching them?

 

He started to move on instinct. The corridor was pressing in on him for every side, and the normal volume of discussion in the hallways sounded like shouting in his ears. Spencer rushed to catch up with him.

 

"So, what's that all about? Cause, like... You obviously didn't come in through the front door. And now the coach got picked up by S.H.I.E.L.D. Are you some kind of criminal?"

 

"No!" Ryder snapped, stopping and turning to Spencer as his fingers started to shake. He quickly shoved them deep into his jacket pockets and took a deep breath. "Look, you don't want to know. We're running away from something bad."

 

"And Sam?" Spencer asked, crossing his arms. "Is he going to be okay?"

 

"I don't know. It's probably not related," The lie slipped off Ryder's tongue easily, and he started to walk down the hallway. Just a few more feet and he could reach the football green, and he'd be home free.

 

"Crap."

 

Ryder only got a moment's notice, and the briefest glimpse of blonde hair and a familiar tracksuit as Spencer spun him around and slammed him back into the wall. He was too dazed to do anything, as Spencer kissed him with sudden passion. For a moment, the world slowed to a crawl. If he grabbed Spencer's arm there, he could break his arm. If he kicked Spencer just at that point, Ryder could break his knee. If he slammed both hands against his chest...

 

But the moment passed, and Ryder caught himself. Coach Sylvester was right there. She should pass by at any second, and they'd be fine.

 

Her shadow crept along the floor, almost agonisingly slow. Ryder would have held his breath, but that would probably end up with him dying, and he didn't want to die kissing a dude. Not something he wanted on his gravestone. He rolled his eyes at that, closing them as he imagined Marley and Jake crying at his gravestone inscribed with...

 

The heat of someone's breath near his face made him open his eyes, and Ryder's eyes jerked open. Inches away, Coach Sylvester narrowed her eyes, and he jerked back, smashing his head painfully against the lockers.

 

Spencer's hand balled up into his clothes, as he turned away from Ryder to look at Sue. "Yeah?"

 

"That's Yes, Principle Sylvester," Sue said, obviously thrown by his lack of respect. "No PDAs in the hallway. Not even if you're...You."

 

With that, she turned on her heels to walk away, and Ryder let out the breath he'd been holding. She'd forgotten all about him. Any moment now they'd be free to run away.

 

She turned back so quickly, that he almost jerked back again. Her eyes scanned over him with a painful intensity. "Didn't I orchestrate you being thrown out of my school?" She asked, her face a mask of confusion. "I remember it. It was a genius plan to remove the Glee Club completely from this school..."

 

"He's my boyfriend," Spencer said stepping between them, "I was hoping you wouldn't notice. Guess it's really obvious why I don't need that fleshlight now." He winked, slapping Ryder's ass sharply. Ryder jumped, and turned to glare at Spencer.

 

"Principle Sue! I mean, Principle Sylvester." Sue snapped, shaking her head. "I always thought if you were going to get that creepy man love on, it would have been with the dregs of the Puckerman gene pool. Or the one who wore dresses." She paused, "Your group was particularly incestuous. Now, I want you off the property..."

 

Spencer frowned stepping forward, "Sue..."

 

"Principle!"

 

"Principle Sylvester, maybe you could let me say goodbye? and then I could come and talk to you about that... Thing?" Spencer said, glancing at Ryder pointedly.

 

"Oh!" Sue blinked, and then grinned conspiritorially, "Fine. But if I see him on campus again without a sign-in form, I'm going to call the police."

 

"Thanks," Spencer grinned, and took Ryder's hand.

 

"Gross." Sue muttered, and walked down the hallways very quickly. Ryder and Spencer started walking towards the door.

 

"I'm going to have to bleach my... everything." Ryder whispered, shuddering, as they pushed open the doors to the football field.

 

"You enjoyed it," Spencer smirked, and Ryder let go of his hand quickly.

 

At least he had got out of here.

 

* * *

 

 

Marley had seen everything on the cameras, and had obviously told everyone before Ryder even opened the pool doors. Jake was shooting Spencer most disgusted look Ryder had ever seen. Spencer had been gently rubbing Ryder's back and pulled his hand away immediately. He held them over his head in mock surrender before he nodded Kitty overr towards him.

 

Ryder moved to sit at the pools edge, slotting himself easily between Marley and Unique. He could feel them looking at him, but none of them made any attempts to touch one another.

 

The next thing Ryder heard was a loud crash. He jumped to his feet, turning around to find Jake holding Spencer up against the wall by his shirt collar, whispering at him with the level of menace that had made Jake the undisputed bad ass of the school. Spencer froze, his eyes wide in panic as Kitty snapped something at them both. Spencer nodded frantically and started walking quickly towards the door.

 

"Hey!" Unique shouted, reaching over and taking Spencer's letterman jacket off Ryder's shoulder gently. She very calmly balled the material up in her hands, her eyes never leaving Spencer, before she launched it towards him. Spencer staggered back, the jacket hitting him square in the chest. With a final look towards Kitty, he turned tail and ran.

 

Kitty watched him leave, before turning on her heels to look at the three of them standing at the edge of the pool. "You four have a lot to explain," She snapped, her eyes shooting towards Jake before jerking back to them. "Because I might not pay any attention to you all speaking, but the last time that I checked, Marley couldn't hack into cameras and security systems with her mind. And Unique didn't throw like a quaterback had a baby with a circus strongman."

 

Ryder gaped at her. Of course she'd realised. They hadn't been exactly subtle with their discussions of how they were going to escape. But still, how much were they actually going to tell her? He looked to Jake for his opinion, but the boy seemed to have the same questions if the panicked looks he was shooting them was any kind of indication. Ryder turned to Marley. She bit her lip and nodded slowly. Unique copied the motion, and Jake nodded after a short pause.

 

"We have super powers." Ryder said, holding his breath once it was out of his mouth.

 

"Wow, really?" Kitty said, her voice completely filled with biting sarcasm. "I know what those two do. What about you two?"

 

Jake shrugged and then stretched his arms out, touching the far side of the pool before pulling it back. "I can stretch, and Ryder can teleport."

 

"That explains how you got into the Choir Room," It was obvious that Kitty was speaking mainly to herself. "Is this something new? Or have you always-"

 

"It was S.H.I.E.L.D." Marley cut in, her shoulders setting themselves. "I know about Hydra, but I checked everything in their computers. That wasn't Hydra, it was S.H.I.E.L.D."

 

"Where are you going to go?" Kitty asked, looking at Jake. "The Media? The Army?"

 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. would take us out before we got to say a thing in public." Jake said, his lips twisting into a sneer, "And the Army?"

 

"The Army would just use us as a weapon." The words rolled out of Ryder's mouth without a thought, and Ryder suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest and his head throbbing. "We can't go to them."

 

"Besides, S.H.I.E.L.D. had the Abomination. Last thing I heard, he was in the Army's custody." Jake turned away from the group and took a few steps. "We're pretty much completely alone in this."

 

"I can't believe you punched the Abomination," Ryder turned to Unique, forcing a smile, "He's supposed to be stronger than the Hulk. How strong are you?"

 

Unique smiled, and started to brag, but the sound was drowned out by the sound of engines above them. Ryder felt his heart freeze. S.H.I.E.L.D. had found them already? Unique grabbed him and Marley, pulling them away from the pool and behind her. There was a soft thump behind them, that Ryder would guess was Jake throwing Kitty to the ground in an attempt to cover her body with his own.

 

"Calm down!" Kitty yelled,"It's just the jets!"

 

"What Jets?" Unique asked, her eyes still pinned to the ceiling.

 

"It's a new government initative. They've reactivated a bunch of air bases, so we can have more planes in the air quickly. In case what happened in New York happens again somewhere else."

 

Ryder let out a breath, turning back to Kitty who was pulling herself out from under Jake. "They do this all the time?"

 

"A couple of times a week. They're testing something..."

 

"We don't have time." Jake said, standing up. "We need to get to somewhere else. Make a plan..."

 

"What kind of plan can we make?" Unique laughed coldly. "We can't go to the Army. And we're not going to S.H.I.E.L.D."

 

"We need to find somewhere where we can practice our powers and hide out," Marley suggested, before she stopped mid-breath. Her eyes shot skyward, and she started to shout something.

 

"ALTERED DNA DETECTED. MUTATIONS MUST BE ERADICATED."

 

A metallic voice shrieked as the ceiling caved in, the rubble followed by a pair of purple metallic feet the size of small cars. Marley screamed, diving forward and pulling Ryder with her. Unique squared herself and managed to lift her hands to catch a huge purple fist that was swinging down with her. Kitty was rushing ahead of them, and Ryder paused to snatch up a bag by the door.

 

"Get out of here!" Jake shouted over his shoulder, before he turned back to the vaguely giant human shape in the dust. Ryder watched in horror as the purple metal foot kicked out, hitting Jake sharply through one of the walls. Rushing out the door, Ryder quickly found Jake in a strangely warped shape on the front lawn. It was like he didn't have a bone in his body.

 

"Ryder, the guns!" Marley yelled, holding out a hand. He quickly passed her one of the guns, and pulled out the other for himself. That was when he paused to see what it was that was actually fighting.

 

"Did somebody watch Pacific Rim, and think it was an instruction manual?" He asked in disbelief, looking at the purple humanoid robot that was obviously trying to crush Unique inside the building. It even had a face painted on! On instinct, he opened fire on its face. It didn't seem to cause any harm, but the robotic creature turned to look at them. It started to move forward, but something inside the building caught it, and brought it crashing to the ground. Unique reappeared moments later, climbing up the robot by creating handholds with her barehands. Her wig had come off in the violence, and her skirt wasn't the smartest choice to fight giant robots in. But Ryder couldn't argue with her effectiveness, as she reached it's head and started to smash at the skull.

 

And that was when his hands started to shudder.

 

"Guys!" He called out, holding up his hand. "I'm ready to go."

 

Before he could lower the hand, the robot lifted a hand and fired a beam of energy at him. He flinched instinctively, and began to make his peace with life when a shadow blotted out the sun. He turned to look, and found himself face to face with Jake. There was the smell of burning, and smoke, before Jake fell forward into his arms.

 

Unique kicked off from the robots face, and crashed into the ground a few feet away. She was on her feet in seconds, pulling Kitty and Marley towards Ryder. Marley's eyes were vaguely empty, and her hands kept jerking side to side. Above them, the robot's arms were suddenly thrashing around aiming for it's own face.

 

"Where are we going?!" Unique yelled, pulling Jake off him and lifting him easily into her arms.

 

"I don't know!" Ryder yelled back, "Where?"

 

"Anywhere!" Marley yelled, as the robot's arms stopped flailing and leveled at them lighting up with energy. "Just somewhere S.H.I.E.L.D. won't find us." She threw her hand at the robot, forcing the arms to lift just before the lasers fired.

 

"Ryder!" Kitty yelled, grabbing his wrist, and Unique's upper arm. Marley stumbled, holding onto Unique for support.

 

_Not S.H.I.E.L.D. Not S.H.I.E.L.D. Not..._

 

The world went dark for a moment, and Ryder felt the power burst inside him.

 

_S.H.I.E.L.D!_

 

 


	3. Runaways 3

Ryder had landed in the New York sewer system. If Jake had to guess, Ryder had been trying so hard to not thing about S.H.I.E.L.D. that it was the only thing in his head. So, right now, they were hiding directly beneath a hellicarrier. From what they had found out from people above ground, the Army had siezed this Helicarrier from its building grounds and were using it to keep any S.H.I.E.L.D. presence out of New York.

 

They arrived a week ago. A whole week. That was how long Ryder had been unconscious, and Jake wasn't sure when he was going to wake up. Marley had spoken to a medical student about it, and they knew what to watch for. Someone was always with him, usually Kitty or Jake.

 

Marley and Unique were a smarter pair to send into the city above. Marley could use her powers to hide from cameras and to get money from ATMs, whilst Unique could take out anybody who caused trouble.

 

They were staying in the same section of the sewer system that Ryder had landed in. It was almost the opposite to everything Jake had ever expected a sewer system to be. For one, it was actually clean. Almost completely sterile, it seemed to stretch off in both directions. They hadn't had to search very far to find the ladder to the roof, and they hadn't dared to go much further.

 

"Princess Powerful."

 

Jake looked up from his feet, to where Kitty was bouncing a small rubber ball around. The tunnel they were in was almost a perfect circle except for the flat floor, and the ball would richochet around chaotically when it hit the walls. It was mind numbingly boring down here.

 

Kitty shrugged, grinning at him."It's better than Bruiser."

 

"Unique would kill you for either name," Jake rolled his eyes. He caught the ball midbounce, and bounced it back at her. Ryder grumbled on the ground, and Jake reached down to pet his leg. The touch seemed to ground him a little, and he let out a long breath.

 

"Not as bad as Marley's name. Talkback? How is that even a name?" Kitty snorted, bouncing the ball hard enough that it hit the roof, and Jake had to stretch his arm across the room to catch it.

 

"Marley can call herself whatever she wants. I still haven't thought of a codename."

 

"Princess Powerful, Talkback, Jake and Kitty." Kitty laughed, "Sounds like the perfect team."

 

Jake rolled his eyes, standing up and pacing backwards and forwards. He was supposed to be practicing controlling his power, and stretching it to it's limits. He came to a stop when he was a few feet away, and stretched his arms out in both directions, and then lifted himself higher by stretching his legs. He probably looked terrifying, a normal human torso, held in the middle of the tunnel by fleshy tubes. But... He should be able to stretch more than his arms and legs.

 

But no matter how much he tried, he couldn't make his chest stretch outwards. He had some mild success stretching his waist upwards, but he could only sustain it for a moment.

 

With a loud sigh, he dragged his body back together, and collapsed net to Ryder's prone body. Everytime he tried to push his powers, it felt as though his stomach was literally emptying. The energy he needed was unbelievable.

 

"Hey." Marley's voice came from the other end of the tunnel, as she clomped loudly down the stairs. Kitty had ears like a cat and could hear people sneaking up on them from a mile away, so they all agreed that making noise on purpose was a good indicator that they weren't S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to come down and take them away. Although it wasn't like they could actually do anything when S.H.I.E.L.D. came. Without Ryder, they couldn't even run away.

 

"Hey," Kitty said, her fingers tightening on the gun at her side instinctively for a moment. "Did you get everything?"

 

"Yes," Marley huffed, dropping the bag down and sitting opposite Jake. Unique collapsed next to Kitty witha loud huff. The tunnel was wide enough that their feet didn't reach when they were sitting opposite each other with their legs outstretched. Still, he made the effort to nudge her feet with his own. "I didn't enjoy it though." She added, rolling her eyes.

 

"Nobody enjoys stealing," Kitty shrugged, pulling the blankets out of the bags and throwing a few over Ryder. Jake grabbed another couple of bags that they'd stolen. Essential stuff. Food, blankets, changes of clothes.

 

They were lucky this place was so clean, otherwise they'd be getting a lot more attention above ground. But they were starting to stink. Not that it was a priority. Not yet.

 

"So, Princess Powerful," Kitty said, taking a pack of nuts from one of the bags and starting to pick her way through them. Unique gave her a dissaproving look and Kitty shrugged, "What? When I suggester Bruiser, you acted asw though I had personally offended you."

 

"You always personally offend me. And I don't think codenames are a priotiry." Unique said, tapping on the ground with knuckles. Jake resisted the urge to tell her to stop. She was obviously getting worked up being kept underground, and Jake couldn't blame her. Everytime they came down the stairs, he couldn't help but be reminded of the facility.

 

"I like Talkback." Marley said, leaning her head against the wall, and looking at them. "Because... You know, they do. The Machines? They make more sense than this situation."

 

"That totally doesn't make it sound like you're going to go insane and murder us all, in the slightest," Kitty said with sarcastic enthusiasm, reaching across to pat Marley's hand. "What about you?" She asked, turning back to Unique.

 

"Will it stop you trying to make one up?" Unique asked, and when Kitty nodded, she let out a loud huff. "Melee."

 

"How is that better than Bruiser?" Kitty asked, her voice loudly full of disbelief.

 

"Because I picked it." Unique snapped, her eyes narrowing. "Is that a problem?"

 

"Stretch!" Jake cut in, before the two girls could start arguing. "Stretch, because I... Okay, it's not very creative, but it'd do."

 

"Ryder would be Jump." Kitty said, with a fond smile. "Or, Leapfrog."

 

"And you?" Marley asked, reaching over to grab a bag of nuts.

 

"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Kitty said proudly. Jake couldn't help the disgusted groan that the other two echoed. "What? I don't have powers. I don'tg need a secret codename."

 

"You need something," Unique scoffed, reaching into a bag and pulled out a book. "Who wants to read outloud tonight then?"

 

"I'll go," Jake took the book, and opened it to the page they had finished on last night.

 

Reading filled the time, whilst they tried to survive.

 

* * *

 

 

"Kitty!"

 

Jake jerked awake at the sound of Ryder's voice. He'd been curled up tightly against Marley to try and keep them both warm, with his back to Ryder. His hand shot out to find the flashlight and his body twisted unnaturally to find Ryder.

 

The other boy was on his knees, his hand stretched out towards the darkness, his eyes wide and his breathing shallow. His face was pale, and covered with sweat. Jake quickly moved to his side and started to rub his hand soothingly over Ryder's back. "It's okay! You're okay, Ryder. It was a nightmare..." Jake said, softly.

 

"Kitty!" Unique yelled, forcing herself to her feet and stumbling into the darkness. Marley was snatching for the guns, and Jake felt his stomach clench as he finally looked around for Kitty. She'd said she wasn't comfortable sleeping close to other people, so she slept a little further down the tunnel, but... He couldn't see her.

 

He was rushing forward before he even finished considering where she could be. The entire tunnel was suddenly setting his nerces on edge. Why was it so clean? Who had kept it clean? He could hear Marley and Ryder racing after him, but he was already stretching his legs out to give him a longer stride. It was pitch black, and he was glad that he had grabbed the flashlight.

 

The tunnel started to curl slightly, and as he turned the flashlight to get a better angle, he caught sight of Unique suddenly being jerked off her feet and bouncing off the walls. Jake forced himself to keep running, as invisible forces seemed to smash into his body at random points. He let those spots go limp, and they flapped uselessly around under the force. It hurt, but it let him catch up with Kitty's kidnapper.

 

The man paused, turning to look at Jake with a sharp glare. His eyes were the most striking part. Bright red eyes, and for a moment Jake thought the man had three. But he quickly realised the 'third eye' was a strange red gem just beneath his greasy black hair. The man turned around again, his black trenchcoat swishing around him.

 

"Stop!" Jake yelled, flinging his hand out to grab the man. That was when the flashlight exploded in his hands, and something furry smashed into his side. He fell to the ground as the ball of fur that was easily the same size as him bit and clawed at him, unable to break the skin.

 

There was a loud bang near his ear, and the furred creature collapsed on top of him. He shoved it away, as another light flickered into existence. "Gross!" Unique gagged, staggering backwards with a phone in her hands, using it as a torch. Their way was barred by... human sized rats?!

 

"We need to get through them!" Marley called out, stepping up next to them and taking the phone from Unique. She juggled the gun and the phone for a moment, before gripping them both professionally and unloading several shots. Each one hit it's mark, and the rat creatures collapsed in bloody pools. For a moment, Jake looked at Marley in wonder, trying to work out where she learnt to use the gun like that, before his chest burst into pain. Of course she knew how to use a gun! It made perfect sense. "Jake! Clear them!"

 

"On it!" He called, throwing himself into the fray with his extended arms, wrapping around as many of the creatures as her could. Unique quickly worked her way through the group, ruthlessly ripping them apart with her bare hands, shattering their skulls against the floor or against each other. Marley and Ryder continued to fire into the crowd. The rat hoard thinned quickly, and when Unique snapped the last one's neck, Jake pulled his arms back to his body. "Okay... How many shots do you have left?"

 

"The guns don't fire bullets," Marley said slowly, tucking her gun into her back pocket. "I thought everyone had worked that out? How did you think we kept firing them?"

 

"Okay, that's super interesting," Unique said dryly, as she started to stomp forward, "but we need to keep moving."

 

"This phones about to die." Marley said, waving it frantically, all her earlier professionally, "We won't be able to see where we're going..."

 

"I can see fine," Unique took Marley and Jake's hands, "Grab Ryder's hand, and I'll lead us."

 

Jake couldn't see if Marley had grabbed Ryder's hand, because Unique was already starting to rush forward, pulling them all along. The phone had cut out, but Unique seemed perfectly content in the absolute darkness. Their journey forward was almost completely silent, except for Unique occasionally warning them about a step or a dip.

 

Then, they turned a corner, and there was suddenly light. Light... and a lot of bodies.

 

"Oh god," Marley muttered, covering her mouth with her hands, as she looked around at all the mutilated bodies. "What is this?"

 

"People who came down here before us?" Jake suggested, forcing the disgusting feeling in his throat down. He moved to kneel by one of the bodies, looking it over. "Something... removed it's brain."

 

"This one is missing arms, and a brain." Ryder called from the otherside of the tunel.

 

"Were they dissected for parts," Unique offered, looking as though she was about to be sick.

 

Jake's head jerked around as a loud scream rang out from further down the tunnel, that quickly cut off. He was running without pausing, only letting Unique take the lead to shatter the metal doors ahead of them.

 

"Computers!" Marley shouted as the ran, her eyes locked around, "There are computers up ahead..."

 

"Later!" Jake insisted, as the tunnel ahead filled with rat creatures. The creatures leapt forward, and Jake rushed to meet them with his fists out stretched. He caught the first one in the jaw, and sent in crashing to the ground. Unique snatched it up by the ankles and swung it like a baseball bat. With quick motions, she quickly reached down and delivered quick punches to the creatures.

 

Something pulled at Jake's chest, and again, the pain kicked in. There was nothing wrong with this! These creatures had attacked them, and Unique was just taking them out as quickly as she could.

 

That reasoning seemed completely hollow, as Unique stood up, her shirt covered in blood. Her eyes were dark and distant for a moment, before she shook her head and stood up. "Come on!"

 

She slammed both hands into the metal, and started to pull it away. Jake didn't slow down, hitting the part of the door that was slightly ajar, and squeezing through. The room on the otherside was almost completely dark, except for the light that was coming from the creaking metal door behind him.

 

It was enough light that he could see Kitty though, sat in some kind of medical chair. The thick straps holding her wrists down and her ankles to the chair looked like something out of an asylum. Jake started forward, but a voice cut through the air.

 

"Another step, and the bombs will explode."

 

Jake suddenly zeroes in on the tubs around Kitty, and the box under her seat. Bombs? What kind of psychopath would fill a room with explosives?

 

Behind him, the door finally cracked loudly, and Unique, Marley and Ryder came up behind him. The room had been lit up now, and Jake could see it fully. It looked to be a perfect circle, with two short corridors to the north and south. They were stood at the edge of the southern corridor, and they could see another door on the opposite side.

 

There was a flash of movement, as something rounded the corner. Jake's head snapped towards it, at the same time as there was a bang from behind him. The pale man with red eyes jerked his shoulder back, and his eyes narrowed as he outstretched his hand towards Marley. There was the feeling of something brushing past Jake, and then Marley launched through the air, collapsing into a pile on the far side of the room.

 

"Stupid Witches! Always shooting. Always breaking things!" The pale man hissed, spit dribbling from his lips as he raised a hand. Suddenly it was like Jake was walking into a wall of gale force wind, He was forced to step back once, and then again as the force increased. "But you're new. Different. Not the same. One, not many."

 

"Let her go!" Jake snapped, his voice almost a growl deep in his throat, clenching his hands into fists. By this point, Ryder had lost his footing, and was being crushed back against the wall, whilst Unique had smashed a hand hold into the wall to keep her position. His own body was warping, stretching in strange directions as it tried to move against it.

 

"Oh... Not right. Can't read. Can't see." The man blinked and moved out of the light, flicking a switch on the wall, bringing light into the rest of the room. The man continued to walk around, a small remote control in his left hand as he ran his right over different surfaces.

 

"Did..." Marley huffed, sitting upright on the otherside of the room, holding her ribs, "did you come from Hydra?"

 

"Did I..." The man asked in confusion, and then laughed painfully loud, the sound echoing in Jake's ears. He cocked his head, the red diamond on his forehead glinting in the light as he seemed to consider something. "Older than Hydra. Older than.... But not. Not. Not." The man's back suddenly straightened, and he gestured to the ceiling with his remote control. There was the whirring of machinery, and something slowly descended, red and throbbing.

 

"God..." Unique whispered, and Jake would have turned to look at her, but his eyes couldn't break away from the sight in front of him. It was like a solar system made out of living human brains. They were all connected by pieces of muscle and fleshy tissue, and they throbbed as though blood was still pumping between them.

 

"You're sick," Ryder muttered, dragging himself to his feet.

 

"No. Very healthy. No complications. Surgical Procedure was a stunning success. Just like the visions promised." The man grinned, his lips stretched painfully wide. "Mutants. Mutants everywhere. And not a telepath to spare."

 

"Telepathy is impossible." Unique muttered, edging her way against the wall, and Ryder was moving up the other side. Jake could clearly see the plan. If they split up, the guy might not be able to do the strange thing he kept doing.

 

"No. No. Very possible. Explosive results. The Moon made sure of that. No competition from the earth. But he tried to save us." The pale man turned away from the all, and started typing on a computer a few feet away. "But the moon broke him, and so broke all of us. Telepaths give us our power. Costs them their lives."

 

Something about it rung in Jake's head. Images slipped past his mind, of a great serpent holding him in it's coils. Of a strange blue gem and a staff.

 

"I fixed it though! Made a machine that would simulate the process without... killing me outright. Just had to examine the effect, with my little scalpel."

 

"Wait, you've met other people like us?" Ryder asked, his eyes widening, "People with powers? Who escaped S.H.I.E.L.D."

 

"No, no. No. No." The man shook his head, and then paused again, "Yes. Erik. Erik escaped Hydra. Or Nazis. Or both. Or neither. It's very hard to remember what I've been told to remember to forget." The man stood upright, suddenly smiling again. "Apologies. That was awfully rude. I am Mr. Sinister. Or I would be. I'm a, was a, will be a telepath."

 

"Appropriate," Ryder huffed, narrowing his eyes, "He's obviously insane. You just said there were no telepaths..."

 

"Three. Three little telepaths, all in a row. One died twice, one burns slow, and one cut it all away." Sinister pointed at himself and then a chair. "I did well. Cut the nerve ending, and then telekinetically moved the scalpel to scoop out those bits. But only those bits. Kept everything else... more or less."

 

"Why..." Marley started, but the man suddenly screamed.

 

"No Questions! Answers!" He turned to face Marley, "Telepaths get their powers. Telepaths go boom. Other people get powers. Understood?!"

 

"Okay..." Marley said slowly, "so, what are you doing with the brains?"

 

"All humans have psychic potential. Just bits of brains not connecting to other bits of their brains. She did it. The Gem did it. No competition. Only the Moon and her gem." Sinister sighed wistfully, framing the mental picture with his hands. Then he lowered them sadly, "Sometimes I think I cut too much. But soon... Soon it'll grow back."

 

"Brains don't grow back," Ryder said, looking to Marley for some kind of agreement.

 

"Mine do," Sinister said, raising the remote. "10, 9, 8, 7..."

 

"Marley, shut down the..." Jake started to call, but the girl had already slumped forward, her eyes vague as she did her thing. Unique charged forward, ready to knock the device from the man's hands.

 

And then the brains exploded.

 

Jake flinched away, feeling a wave of energy pass over his body, burning hot where it touched, but leaving the skin painfully cold in it's wake. He turned slowly back towards the room, his eyes falling on Marley immediately. She was still stood where she had been stood before, but her body was now upright and almost vibrating on the spot. Unique was rolled into a ball inches from Mr. Sinister.

 

He turned back to where Ryder was vomitting on the floor, when he heard a strange humming in the air. His head whipped back to the main chamber, where the metal pipes that had been holding the brains in place were vibrating. Without the brains to channel the energy, they looked to be about to break out of the ceiling.

 

If even one of them hit those containers, the explosions might go off. But he didn't have enough arms to catch them all. He just wished he could get between the pipes and the rest of the room.

 

Even as he visualised it, his body seemed to warp and shift. His chests stretched in every direction, and suddenly, Jake was looking across the room at his own feet, feeling metal bounce off his back harmlessly.

 

"Much better." Sinister's voice came from the middle of the room, and Jake craned his neck to see him properly. "She was right. The next step is the control of the physical body. I can feel every atom, every deficit. I fix them with a thought. I see the reason why..." Sinister paused, turning to look at the group again with cold eyes. He made a vague hand gesture at himself, and the clothes he was wearing seemed to melt away, into a black bodysuit, with a red cape. A thousand tiny flaws seemed to remove themselves from his body, and he went from deathly pale, to chalk white, without any hint of hairs, or wrinkles or even pores on his skin.

 

"No need for you then," He continued, holding up his hand towards Jake. "Shame. Your genetics would have been... Interesting."

 

Jake pulled himself back together on the otherside of the room, but Sinister followed him with his hand outstretched. Something inside Jake seemed to tear at itself, trying to break free of his skin.

 

Which was when Ryder appeared in midair between them, his foot outstretched. The foot swung, carried by momentum, up into Sinister's jaw, sending the man staggering. Before Jake could tritch towards him, Ryder had vanished again, reappearing next to Marley.

 

Sinister turned in one smooth motion, energy forming in his hand that seemed to slice through the air towards the pair. But again, they were gone before it hit, and Jake felt a sudden gust of air behind him.

 

"Teleportation. Elasticity..." Mr. Sinister sneered, straightening his back. "Maybe I will keep your genetic material." He threw his hands forward, and energy seemed to crackle towards them. Jake turned away, ready for the moment it would hit him.

 

Marley woke up with a loud gasp, at the exact same moment as Kitty's head jerked up and her arms seemed to turn into pure light. The bonds around her wrist burnt away in seconds, and then the girl jerked both hands at Sinister. He staggered the forwards, the smell of burning leather filling the room for a moment. He turned towards Kitty, only for a small computer tower at his side to explode loudly. Sinister jerked away from it, and for a moment, Jake throught they oculd win.

 

Then Sinister caught his footing.

 

The light had started to build at Kitty's shoulders again, but with a single glance, Sinister threw her across the room. Everything around him launched away, even as computer servers and towers tried to explode. Ryder jerked forwards, reappearing in front of Sinister in an attempt to kick him again, but his foot never landed the hit. Instead, his entire body jerked into a crucified position, and Ryder let out a scream of pain.

 

"Ryder!" Marley yelled, as Jake raced forward. He was almost close enough to reach out, when a huge weight seemed to hit him from above, flattening him to the floor. In less that three seconds, they had all been taken out.

 

Which was when Unique woke up.

 

The first hit rocked the room, the ceiling and walls shaking. Sinister stumbled back, the force that had been holding Ryder and Jake in place vanishing as he made a gesture at Unique. The ground around the girl cracked, as her feet dug into it to hold her in pace. Her teeth were clenched tight, as she forced herself to step forward once. And then again. Step by step, she made her way to Sinister, and slammed him with another backhand.

 

"Stupid Boy!" Sinister spit blood, backhanding Unique so suddenly and violenly that she fell back a few steps. "My telekinesis is more than a match for your strength."

 

"I. Am. A. Girl!" Each word was punctuated by another strike against Sinister, as Unique pushed him back across the room. She paused for a moment when his back hit the wall, and pulled her fist back for her strongest blow yet, when her body was lifted from the ground and launched back a few feet, jerking to a stop in the middle of the room, hanging limply above the ground.

 

"I do not care. Though your genetic material would make excellent foot soldiers. You should have ran whilst you had the chance." Sinister sneered, moving to stand inches from Unique. "What will you do now?"

 

Unique lifted her head slowly, her eyes closed tight as she took a few breaths.

 

"Something amazing."

 

She opened her eyes, that were glowing with a painful light. Jake looked away as quickly as he could, but it was still too late, as the world suddenly went white.

 

* * *

 

 

Ryder only had a few seconds warning, as Marley gestured for him to come towards her. He crossed the distance in a flash, without even a tremble in his hands. The wave of energy seemed to fill him with some kind of power, or maybe it had just made his own personal battery refill faster.

 

"Unique's about to do something huge. Cover your eyes, and then teleport us all out."

 

He didn't have time to ask what she meant, as Unique lifted off the ground and Sinister started to talk. Instead he vanished out of the room, reappearing in another nearby tunnel and counting to 20, before he teleported back in. He grabbed Marley first, and then Kitty, and Jake and Unique. He landed them further down the same corridor.

 

"Kitty!" Marley yelled, gesturing at the ceiling. Kitty stepped away from them, and lifted her arms to the roof. The light grew at her shoulder, and then raced up her arms, ripping free from her hands and tearing a ragged hole in the roof. The accompanying cave in filled the corridor between them and the other room in seconds, and then everything was still.

 

"How did you..." Jake started, looking between Kitty and Marley, before the rocks started to creak. "We need to go."

 

"Where?" Unique gestured around them wildly. "Seriously. We can't keep running in random directions!"

 

"We can't stay here!" Jake shot back.

 

"I wasn't suggesting..."

 

"Shut up!" Kitty yelled forcing them into silence. "Will you two just shut up! I'm a freak now too, so I get a say! We're going up into New York, and we're going to find an abandoned building to stay in tonight. It'll be harder for that creep to find us above ground."

 

Behind them, the rubble noticably shifted, and Ryder swallowed deeply. "Kitty's right. We need to go somewhere."

 

"Okay. We go up." Jake said quickly, setting his jaw. "Run!"

 

Ryder nodded, sprinting down the corridor just ahead of the others for the moment, trying to remember the route back through the corridors to the surface.

 

They'd be safe on the surface.

 

 


	4. Runaways 4

The building they had chosen looked like it was about to be refurbished. Outside looked fine, but inside, the floors were half gone, and everything was covered in white cloth and dust. The five of them had made there way to the top floor, and were currently sat around a small lamp. At least the power was still on.

 

"I've been... researching." Marley had explained, whilst they passed out food. "It feels like I can download chunks of the internet into my head now, and just... understand it. And from what I've put together, on a theoretical level, what Sinster did should have unlocked some final barriers on our powers. Fixed a few things that weren't quite clicking."

 

The news seemed to fall on deaf ears though. She wasn't that surprised. They had just been uprooted again, even if it was from a sewer system. Kitty had her back flat against a wall, her knees pulled up tight against her chest as she stared at her hands. Just looking at the girl, Marley's brain subconsciously started pulling up her emails and social media presence. That was how the world looked now. Layers of information. Unique was playing with the bandages they wrapped her knuckles in. Apparently, Sinister's skin was hard enough that the girl had scraped them raw whilst hitting him.

 

Ryder and Jake... Well, that was where Marley was making a conscious effort not to pry. Looking at them too long would start to bring up more than emails. Things like internet history and search histories... not things she ever wanted to know.

 

Instead, she focused on the information she needed. "Jake, your elasticity has increased to allow you to warp your physical form. You can be any shape you want now." She said brightly, as the foreign words slipped over her tongue. Not that she was dumb before all of this, but now she felt like she was reciting information from text books. "I mean, you can stretch as far as you like now. You could do so much with that power. You could save people jumping from buildings..."

 

"Marley, don't..." Jake sighed, wrapping his hands around the back of his neck and leaning forward to look at the ground.

 

"And, Ryder, you can teleport without knocking yourself out! You could be so amazing!" The words didn't reach the boy who was staring at the ceiling. Kitty would be freaking out for a while now, so... The only person Marley might be able to reach was Unique. "Unique, you're a super hero!"

 

"What?" Unique asked, her head snapping towards Marley. It was a worrying sign, but Marley's mouth was moving ahead of her.

 

"You have superstrength! And super durability! You're powered by light, and you can store it to...."

 

"People are dead, Marley!" Unique yelled, making everyone jerk upright and look at her. "God, those people were disected down there! Ryder was killing himself across the country. We're the only ones who made it out of that S.H.I.E.L.D. base, and you're talking about becoming some kind of heroes?"

 

"I just..." Marley tried to explain, but her voice was soft. The death suddenly weighed on her, much more than the pain in her chest.

 

"We're going to be runnning for the rest of our lives! We're going to be hunted, and there's a serial killer somewhere who can hit like a train with just his mind!"

 

"Why do we have to run?" Ryder asked, looking around. "Seriously. I mean, if we went on TV and told everyone what was going on..."

 

"Do you want the Avengers showing up to take you out? Or S.H.I.E.L.D. telling the world you're a terrorist or an alien." Kitty cut in, glaring at Ryder. "Maybe we are. We're... Aliens. Or Devils. Or..."

 

"Mutants."

 

Marley's voice was soft, but everyone turned to look at her. "I was inside Sinister's computers. I can't remember all of it, but I can remember enough. We're called Mutants. And there are a few of us in the world. Maybe... 20? 30?"

 

"Anything else?" Jake asked quietly, looking at her seriously.

 

"Just a name. Xavier." Marley shook her head. "Then some theoretical stuff that only makes sense with other stuff from the internet. It's how I can work out things about us."

 

"Us Mutants, you mean?" Kitty sneered, "Us not humans. Us...."

 

"We're still human!" Jake insisted, turning to the girl. "We're still humans. We can't have been... They were just human brains. As gross as it is, it's still a human thing, right?"

 

Marley nodded, closing her eyes. The darkness blocked out most of the clutter of information. "Sinister made it sound like Mutants appear naturally..."

 

"Telepaths," Ryder said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "But they go boom?"

 

"Telepaths don't exist." Marley and Kitty said in unison, as a sharp pain bloomed in Marley's chest.

 

"Those brains exploded," Jake said, speaking over them. "Maybe that's why they're not around?"

 

"And Sinister said that telepaths dying made more mutants." Unique frowned, "Sinister found a way around that, maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. did too?"

 

The pain in Marley's chest was at bursting point, and she wanted to shout at them and tell them that it was insane. But her mind was filling with hard evidence that they were right.

 

"So, here are our options. Fight the serial killer who can smack Unique around," Jake said, with obviously forced calmness, "fight the Avengers to get to S.H.I.E.L.D. to get back whatever they're using to create mutants... Or we run and hide."

 

"There's no point deciding anything right now." Marley said after a long few seconds of silence. "We should sleep. And in the morning, we'll make a plan."

 

It felt hollow to her ears, but at least now the pain in her chest had abated. There was no plan they could made. There was nothing different about tomorrow.

 

But her head hurt, and she was just so exhausted.

 

* * *

 

 

_The sky was purple, and the earth was blue. And it all had teeth._

 

_"My children."_

 

_Kitty turned on the spot, catching sight of herself in the distance, like she was looking into a mirror trap. In the mirror, she could see Ryder, Jake, Marley and Unique stood with her. But when she tried to look at her hands, she couldn't see any of her body, or their bodies either. The alien landscape around them seemed to flex around them, reeking of toxicity and hunger._

 

_"Thank you for hearing my summons. It is very rare that ones such as yourself will be awakened enough to hear me."_

 

_"Who are you?" Their voicies came out in unison, as Kitty's eyes tried to make sense of what they were seeing. For a moment, it was almost pure light, pure image, pure sight... But then it spoke again, and an image solidified in her mind. A small egyptian man, wrapped in white cloth. His frail body looking exhausted and hungry._

 

_"My name is lost to the mysteries of time. I was the first. To be the beginning of a proud line. But I was cut down in combat, by a serpent of the stars. She used her power to deny me my heritage, but I retaliated and brought her low. Now I remain hear, on the cusp of death. Between your reality and the truth. In the space in between, where souls dwell."_

 

_"What do you need?"_

 

_"The Six created four cornerstones, to hold the universes apart. To fracture them, as precisely as possible, without requiring constant surveillance and maintainance." The man gestured to them, and Kitty felt a sudden burst of pain in her mind and chest, that quickly faded to warmth._

 

_"Six Infinity Gems, given to Six masters. They have slipped from owner to owner, but the Cornerstones have survived. Thanos built them on the bones of those he defeated." The egyptian man shook his head, "I once held the Gem of the Mind in my hand, and now I hide from the Soul Devourer. You must shatter the cornerstones. Four objects of power. I impart the knowledge of their location to you. Shatter them, and free me. We, the strong, will rise again."_

 

_Something about the words seemed... Right. They should rise up. They should do exactly what this man had said._

 

_In the distance, there was the feeling of something closing in, and as one they jerked away._

 

_And then they woke up._

 

* * *

 

 

Kitty gasped awake, her feet kicking out in panic. The sound of the lamp shattering went almost un-noticed as everyone else woke up in varying states of panic. But she couldn't think of anything to say. It seemed like everyone else was in the same state as herself, and the only noice in the room was there panicked breathing.

 

Somewhere above them, there was the steady thrum of a helicopter. Sunlight streamed in through the window in lazy rays, but Kitty felt like the world was closing in on her. That dream had been so painfully intense, and wouldn't fade form her mind at all. There was a throbbing pain in her head and chest...

 

"I had the weirdest-" Ryder started and then stopped, shaking his head, and looked around. "There was this egyptian man..."

 

Kitty's breath caught in her throat, as the room seemed to burst into motion. Nobody else was speaking, but the sound of breathing had become frantic, and they were all looking at each other in confusion.

 

"We're coming in!"

 

Everyone's head jerked towards the window where a figure was levitating in midair just outside the window. Unique jerked away, whilst Ryder gripped Marley's arm tightly, ready to vanish at a moment's notie. Kitty forced herself to her feet, lifting her arms almost instinctively as a bolt of energy raced down them towards the window. The glass shattered easily, and the shiny metallic figure launched away at high speed.

 

"Kitty!" Jake yelled as he rushed to the window and looked out. "You just..."

 

"Gave us a few seconds. We need to pick somewhere to teleport, and go!"

 

"Uh..." Ryder started to shake his hands frantically, "I don't have that kind of power saved up! I could get us a few blocks at best..."

 

"We need to give Ryder time to charge up," Marley's eyes narrowed, as she looked around the room. If Kitty had to guess, she was using that weird boost to her powers to put together a plan. "Fight off S.H.I.E.L.D. for as long as it takes."

 

"That's the plan?" Unique laughed exageratedly, "Honey, we'll be lucky if we last five minutes!"

 

"Duck!"

 

Kitty threw herself to the floor at Jake's command, watching an arrow whizz through the space her shoulder had occupied, and embed itself in a wall. Everyone else started to duck for cover, but Kitty's attention was on the flashing red light on the arrow, and the soft beeping. She curled into a ball, as the world became unbearably hot. The sheer focrce of the explosion rocketed them out of the window, and she was staring at the floor hurtling toward them.

 

There was a sudden jerking sensation, and then she was on her back, looking up at the sky as Ryder huffed nearby. "Sorry. I had to grab you and Marley," he said, climbing to his feet, and offering her his hand. She took it and pulled herself to her feet, quickly picking out Marley and Jake leaning against a car, whilst Unique pulled herself out of a small crater. "Who shot us?"

 

"Hawkeye," Marley pointed at the roof opposite the building they had been sleeping in. "Captain America, Falcon and Black Widow are in the helicopter that's coming in for a landing, and Iron Man was just sighted four or five blocks away."

 

"Five Avengers?" Jake hissed, "Ryder?"

 

"A few minutes. Ten at most," Ryder looked around in a panic. "Can we run?"

 

"From Iron Man? Maybe? From Hawkeye? No." Marley shrugged, and then reached for her side, patting at her hip. "The guns are still upstairs."

 

"You can..." Kitty paused, looking up at the rooftop where Hawkeye was hiding. If Coach Sylvester could use directional microphones to listen in on conversations, who was to say the Avengers didn't have something similar. Hell, Hawkeye could be an expert lip reader. "You can do your thing. There are things you can do. That other people can't do."

 

Marley paused and nodded, stepping obviously behind Unique. Kitty couldn't blame her. That was probably the safest place in this street. But Jake frowned at the action, his frame bulking up a little. If they weren't about to fight for their lives, Kitty would have enjoyed mocking Jake about his fear that Unique would steal his girlfriend. But right now, all she could see was the shine of Captain America's shield, as he slid down a rope with the Black Widow following him quickly.

 

"Okay, kids. Last chance to stand down, and come into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody." Captain America said with a steady voice, taking a step forward with the shield already in hand. Hawkeye had probably passed along that one of them had blasted Iron Man across the city.

 

"I'd rather die," Jake growled, shifting a little on the balls of his feet. Kitty couldn't help but agree, the idea of going into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody making her head and chest hurt. There was an echo in the back of her mind, of Marley screaming whilst trapped in some kind of metal contraption. Jake cut into her memories by stepping forward. "Like we believe you're going to take us alive!"

 

"Okay. Just tell me your name..." Captain America said, lowering the shield half an inch as he looked at Black Widow in confusion.

 

"Codenames, guys," Jake yelled, surging forward. Cap lifted his shield over his head, and Black Widow used it as a spring board to throw herself at Jake, knocking him off course.

 

Ryder turned to look at the roof that Hawkeye had been stood on, and suddenly vanished, reappearing randomly in the air as arrows followed him. Kitty felt her heart in her throat as Ryder appeared in an arrows path and only just managed to vanish before it would have hit him.

 

The sky darkened for a moment, and she looked up catching sight of a wide pair of metal wings. Kitty turned, lifting an arm and letting loose a burst of energy. The wings swerved in midair, falling for a moment, before catching themselves and continuing to fly past. Kitty could suddenly make out the man folded in the wings, but he was out of sight again in seconds. The bolt of energy seemed to continue in it's path, taking a chunk out of one of the buildings.

 

"Duck!"

 

Kitty threw herself downward, as a shining shield cut through the air. It richocheted off the road, and then a building, flying back towards Captain America. Unique intercepted it though, and Kitty realised it had been her who shouted. She caught the shield in both hands and let out a soft grunt of pain. Captain America started to spring towards her, but Unique didn't seem to care as she placed the edge of the shield against the ground and then pushed.

 

For a moment, Kitty wondered if all the stories about the unbreakable shield were fake, but then the concrete seemed to part like water. The shield slid in halfway, and then Unique forced it down with her foot. Captain America paused in midstep, looking at the scene in confusion for a moment.

 

But only for a moment. Then he crossed the distance, and was punching at Kitty with blinding speed. Kitty moved to help, but Falcon turned in the sky and was suddenly bearing down on her with his guns drawn.

 

"Split up!" Marley yelled, running towards a building across the street. Seconds later, Iron Man landed, his hands glowing as he turned towards Kitty. She didn't give it another minute, rushing behind a series of cars and towards the Falcon who tried to redirect himself.

 

She hoped that the others were having more luck.

 

* * *

 

 

One moment Ryder was on the ground, and the next he was in freefall. The arrow that would have taken out his right leg was in the ground, but another was already whistling towards him, and Ryder had to teleport again. This time on top of a roof. The next arrow took a few seconds to find him, but it did find him. The thicker shaft protruded from the ground around five inches from his leg, with a flashing red light. Ryder closed his eyes and teleported away just as the explosion ripped through the rooftop. Ryder saw it from the skies above as the wind whipped past his face.

 

He couldn't fight Hawkeye from a distance. The marksman was way too fast. Ryder narrowed his eyes, and teleported behind Hawkeye, ready to kick at him. The archer reacted before Ryder could, swinging his bow and hitting Ryder's legs. Ryder yelled out in pain, collapsing into a heap and hitting ground hard. The bow swung around in midair and rocketed down towards him. He threw himself to the side, blind panic setting in as he kicked at Hawkeye's leg. If he could knock him over, maybe they'd be on a more equal footing. The bow bounced off the roof a few inches from his head, and came down again. Ryder swung his head and chest upwards, slamming his forehead into Hawkeye's stomach hard enough to send him stumbling back, dropping the bow behind Ryder.

 

Ryder shoved himself to his feet, as Hawkeye came rushing in to strike at him. Ryder staggered backwards, his foot catching the bow accidentally and launching it across the roof and clattering off the lip on the other side. His forearms and shins were almost vibrating from deflecting the blows, and Ryder didn't have time to think ahead at all. His arms and legs were moving on some buried instinct.

 

He shoved forwards as hard as he could, catching Hawkeye in a football tackle and falling forwards. The world tilted, as they both plummeted off the edge of the building. Ryder gripped Hawkeye as tight as he could, and teleported closer to the ground, letting Hawkeye take most of the impact.

 

For a moment they were both stunned, and then Hawkeye shoved him off, hitting a button on the side of his quiver and retrieving a second, slimmer and much less advanced bow. Ryder winced and teleported away.

 

This wasn't going well.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Unique was fighting Captain America. The man who had defeated the Red Skull, and the leader of the Avengers.

 

That would be enough to make her a little starry eyed, if the man wasn't trying to punch her in the face. It didn't even hurt! It was like someone was jabbing at her with a finger, rather than a punch that was supposed to be hard enough to dent metal.

 

"Look son..." Captain America said, dodging under one of her punches. He had been trying to talk to her for the past minute, but his attention was mostly on dodging her. He obviously realised if she could lay a hand on him she would be able to do a lot of damage. He flipped backwards acrobatically, and Unique stepped back into his personal space as quickly as she could. "Son..."

 

"I am a girl!" She snapped back, reaching for a car with her free hand, and tearing a chunk away to launch at his head as her anger overtook any kind of logic.

 

"I'm sorry. Miss, I'm going to give you one more chance to stand down and come with us to..."

 

"To S.H.I.E.L.D?" She asked, stopping her attack for a moment, and putting her hands on her hips. "To have a working test subject? You and S.H.I.E.L.D. want to do this all over again."

 

Captain America stopped in mid step, his lips thinning to a line as he looked up and narrowed his eyes at the sky. "Miss, I need you to tell me exactly..."

 

Before he could finish, an arrow exploded against Unique's back. It didn't hurt, but it threw her off balance and she fell towards Captain America, who quickly caught her. She didn't give him chance to try and trick her again though, as her hand closed around his bicep. He caught his mistake a moment later, as she turned smoothly and launched him at Hawkeye, knocking them both to the ground.

 

* * *

 

 

This was the most impressive piece of technology Marley had ever interfaced with. If other machines spoke back to her, the Iron Man armor sang back to her with a backing orchestra.

 

Unfortunately, she couldn't focus on the beauty of it's designs and computer systems when she was doing everything she could to hide from it. She dove out from behind a set of doors, focusing her attentions on cutting out the visual feed for a few moments as she dove behind a dumpster, and then made the audio sensors pick up running footsteps running around the corner. Iron Man rocketed past, out into the street whilst Marley let out a shuddering breath.

 

_"You're a damn good hacker,"_ Tony Stark's voice came over the microphone, and Marley winced. She had to move. She rushed back inside the building she had just run through, and heading upstairs.

 

_"I'm not a hacker."_ Marley pushed back to him through his speakers, putting the sentence together from audio clips without a thought.

 

Stark snorted, and Marley could almost feel the suit come back towards her. _"See, that's what I thought. Marley Rose. Most recently missing from Lima, Ohio. Since..."_

 

_"Kidnapped by S.H.I.E.L.D. you mean?"_

 

_"Look, if you just turn yourself in, I'm sure we can all come to some kind of agreement. You don't have to go with S.H.I.E.L.D. You could come to Stark Tower instead, and show me what kind of implants you have that let you do this. What do you think?"_

 

Marley paused, narrowing her eyes a little as she suddenly picked up a second signal coming from the suit. Completely seperate to the suit itself, and if she had been a hacker she wouldn't have ever noticed.

 

His computer system was distracted though, and she could finally break the firewall that had been keeping her from his files. She let all the new information roll over her like water, catching anything that seemed important. But her attention was mainly on...

 

The armor swerved around, coming at her from the opposite side of the building. She shook her head, rushing down the stairs, and into the street, where Ryder and Unique were still fighting Captain America and Hawkeye. She had the codes now, she could do this...

 

* * *

 

 

Jake had been winning for all of five minutes. He's had Black Widow wrapped up in his arms, and was about to knock her out and go help someone else. He had dealt with an Avenger without any injuries.

 

Then she flicked something, and all of a suddenly there was the smell of burning in the arm, and he was in unimaginable pain. Now, she was literally beating him up and down the street, and he couldn't even retaliate. His jaw and half his face hung slackly, and one of his arms was hanging completely limp at his side.

 

The Black Widow's knuckles buzzed with elecricity, and the way she stalked towards him screamed of barely concealed violence. But the most terrifying thing was her eyes. They were completely detached as she hit him again and again. There was no hate pr pity behind them. There was nothing he could connect to on any emotional level.

 

Suddenly she jerked her head up, as Falcon soared overhead and a blast of energy knocked another chunk of the building down towards them. She flipped out of the way, but Jake was in too much pain to react. The rocks crashed down on him, and his only choice was to let his body go completely limp. He could feel the rocks crushing his body down, but it didn't hurt.

 

He turned his head to where Black Widow was picking out her next target. Kitty had been trying to shoot Falcon down, but hadn't laid a single hit. He tried to shout out, but his lungs were completely deflated beneath him. And he couldn't move the rubble either!

 

With only one option left, he jerked his head forward, stretching his neck as fast as he could. He felt his forehead impacting Black Widow in the back, knocking her off balance. She turned back towards him, and if the fact he was basically a disembodied head threw her, there was no sign of shock on her face. He ducked as quickly as he could, and pulled back before surging forward past her and into Kitty's eye line. The blonde girl's eyes narrowed, and she launched an energy bolt at the Black Widow, sending the woman sprawling to the other side of the street.

 

"Ryder!" Kitty's yell was quickly answered by Ryder appearing next to her. He looked vaguely exhausted, but he was still able to stand. "Get him!"

 

Ryder's hands closed on either side of Jake's head, and the crushing weight on Jake's back seemed to vanish. Jake pulled himself back together, whilst Ryder glashed Kitty and Unique to Jake's side. A second later, Marley ducked out of an alleyway, the Iron Man right behind her.

 

"I just need a minute... Two at the most." Ryder huffed, his hands on his knees. Unique quickly moved to step in front of him, and Jake followed her lead, as Captain America, Falcon, Black Widow and Hawkeye all landed at the other end of the street.

 

"Anyone got a plan?" Jake called over his shoulder as Marley and Kitty stepped up behind them.

 

"Just one." Marley called back, her eyes going blank as Iron Man started to flot menacingly towards the ground. "Ejection Protocol!"

 

* * *

 

 

_"DNA Sample accepted, Voice Code Accepted. Ejection Protocol activated!"_

 

Marley could help but smirk as the Iron Man suit flew to the top of a building, and spit Tony Stark out of the back, before flying down to her side.

 

"I've got the Falcon," She said camly, sliding her mind almost completely inside the machine and flexing it like a new muscle. She quickly cut off every feed into the machine, as the Artificial Intelligence tried to find a way to take control. She didn't dare fire the lasers though, instead using the metal suit like a wrecking ball, as it slammed into his wings at full speed. The man fell to the ground, his wings hanging limply. The suit launched down towards Black Widow next, attaching itself to her and then locking down. She quickly gutted everything but the life control systems, and then left the suit in the middle of the road, turning back to the fight.

 

Kitty had Hawkeye and Falcon cornered behind a car, blasts of energy stopping them from aiming their weapons at them. Jake and Unique were wrapping up Captain America, both literally and figuratively.

 

"Got it!"

 

Marley turned to Ryder and grabbed his arm. Unique knocked Captain America to the ground and then raced back to Ryder with Jake just behind her. Kitty slowly made her way backwards, her arms still aimed at Hawkeye and Falcon's hiding place. Everyone else grabbed hold of each other, and Kitty was the last one to join them, grabbing Marley's shoulder, as the world sucked away and went black. And they vanished across the country.

 

 

 


	5. Runaways 5

_One Month Later_

 

Unique sipped on her milkshake, watching people pass by, as Ryder read out loud from a small book.

 

"Constructed by a subsect of S.H.I.E.L.D. known as H.A.M.M.E.R., to serve as a backup for the Triskellion, Utopia has become a shining beacon of defence on the west coast..."

 

Hidden behind her large pink sunglasses, Unique felt comfortable watching him out of the corner of her eyes. He looked good. The few weeks break they'd had had obviously been good for him. He looked more toned and obviously more at ease with himself. In fact, everyone seemed to be a little less 'Fugitive' and a little more 'normal human being'.

 

Of course, their current conversation would put that idea to rest immediately. The first seal that the egyptian man had asked them to break was in San Francisco. Which wasn't a problem. The problem was that it was on a man made island, that used to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. base, but was now under the control of the US Army.

 

"...The US Army have taken over and kept up the tradition of protecting us from outside threats." Ryder said, snapping the book closed and looking around. "So, we have to break into a military base, and smash something. Is this starting to sound like a video game to anyone else too?"

 

Unique grinned, ducking her head. Ryder looked good in his new clothes. A short sleever shirt that hung open open over a t-shirt, and jeans. But she looked pretty awesome too. A floral shirt and skirt. Kitty had opted for a white tank top and skirt, whilst Marley was wearing a pink long sleeved shirt and jeans. And Jake had a tight black shirt and jeans on.

 

"It should be easy enough," Marley said, pulling out a laptop, and resting her hands on it as her eyes went vacant. One of her new tricks, pulling data from the internet and then putting onto the laptop so everyone could see. "We can't all go."

 

"Why not? What's stopping us?" Jake leant in, frowning.

 

"For one, five of us running around is going to be impossible for us to hide." Marley straightened her back, and turned the laptop around so everyone could see the layout. "And this won't be like the fight we had with the Avengers. The Army will shoot to kill, and there won't be any kind of an Iron Man armor for us to knock them out with. Only people who can take bullets should be going in."

 

Unique frowned, glancing at Jake. The two of them? That would end well... "How are we supposed to get there? Not that I'm suggesting that this is a ridiculous idea or anything..."

 

"But it'd be nice to have someone with brains with us." Jake said, throwing an arm around Marley and grinning at her. Marley rolled her eyes, but blushed and shuffled closer in to him.

 

"I have plenty of brains," Unique muttered under her breath, trying to resist the urge to look to Ryder for reassurance. "What are we actually supposed to destroy?"

 

"He just said it was an object of power. At a guess, it's something to do with the blank spot here..." Marley gestured to a spot on the blue prints. "No doors in, no power running to it..."

 

"Like the entire base was designed to defend that spot," Ryder frowned, leaning back. "Seriously guys, I feel like I've played this video game."

 

"Ryder will teleport you in, and then you make your way through the base as quietly as you can. These earbuds will let us stay in contact with you, and I'll do anything technical from the hotel room." Marley handed the two of them earbuds, which Unique and Jake quickly slipped into their ears. Unique could feel the cold plastic swell a little forcing it to stay inside.

 

"What could go wrong?" Jake grinned at Ryder, and Unique resisted the urge to throw him through the window. Marley motioned a waitress over, and handed her card over, and her eyes went vacant as she made the machine read it as a working card. "We should head back to the hotel."

 

"Yeah..." Ryder said, standing up and stretching his back. "But... Guys, we need to have this conversation."

 

"What conversation?" Unique asked standing up too, as the rest of them grabbed their bags and jackets.

 

"Whether we're going to help that guy from our dream."

 

"He was like us." Jake said, as they started to walk away, Marley sandwiched between Ryder and Jake. Unique resisted the urge to huff. If that exploded into more drama about which guy Marley should be with, whilst Unique was all on her own? She would not be cool with it. Jake turned to the group, and continued. "And he said we'd rise. I mean... That sounds good to me right now."

 

Ryder had a point about trusting the man from their dream, but Unique couldn't find it in herself to argue. It was the only plan they had. Besides... Jake was right. She wasn't down for becoming a tyrant or anything, but she'd taken something else from the man's words. Maybe when they released this guy, there would be more people like them. Which would definitely help prove they weren't some horrific lab experiment. Maybe they could create some kind of group to support each other. S.H.I.E.L.D. could wipe five people off the face of the earth without a trace, but 10? 50? 100?

 

"Hey..." Kitty said quietly, slowing down once Unique was looking at her. "Are you okay?"

 

"Just exhausted," Unique said quietly, letting her shoulders drop a little, wishing I had someone to talk to..."

 

"Am I not good enough for you now?" Kitty asked, raising an eyebrow, smirking at Unique. She had to admit, over the past couple of weeks, Kitty had been a godsend. The only person who had been just annoyed at Jake and Marley's team-leader shtick. They'd bonded over their misery and feeling inhuman. It had been Kitty who took Unique to buy a new wig, and to shops that would sell clothes that would actually fit. And it had been Unique who went with Kitty to a church to pray.

 

"You know you are," Unique smiled, before her eyes were dragged back to the other three. "I'm just starting to feel... I want this to be over. I want..." She shook herself out of it, "I want to stop feeling like I'm on the outside looking in on those three. Just useful when they need something breaking."

 

"At least you're useful," Kitty snorted, "You've been with them since the facility. I'm just... Baggage you've all picked up along the way."

 

"Yeah well, Jake likes you. I don't think any of them like me right now," Unique resisted the urge to sigh. It had been happening too often, and it was starting to feel as though the girl who had sang in a Glee Club was a million miles away."

 

"Are we done feeling sorry for ourselves?" Kitty snorted, hooking her arm with Unique's and pulling her forward. "Besides, you're Marley's best friend."

 

"Does Marley even remember that?"

 

It was a catty comment, but it was becoming more and more obvious how much Marley's powers were changing her. That far off look she would get halfway through a word, or the way that she could talk as an authority on anything one moment, and then act like she was completely clueless the next... It was like the girl that Unique had known was being swallowed up by her power.

 

Kitty shrugged off the comment, and pulled Unique forward.

 

* * *

 

 

The raid of the Army base started in the hotel room. Jake and Unique suited up in their dark black clothes, and there had been a ten minute arguement about whether they should wear masks. Finally, they had agreed that it wasn't needed.

 

Ryder teleported them inside a closet that Marley had picked out from the blueprints. Any further and Ryder couldn't teleport in. The object of power must have been inhibiting his ability to teleport in.

 

From there... Things had gone completely wrong. Ryder had vanished, but when he appeared in the hotel room, Marley told them it looked like he'd run into a brick wall. Undeterred, Jake quickly lead the way through the base, Unique removing any doors that were locked.

 

Marley was supposed to warn them if anyone was nearby, but her first warning came too late, as Jake stepped into a corridor, right in front of two soldiers. Unique snatched at one of them, but the other raised his hand to the radio, letting out a strangled yell before Jake could snatch it away and knock him unconscious.

 

Marley had directed them to this closet, and they'd thrown themselves inside. Nobody was looking for them, whilst Marley created distractions all over the base.

 

But the situation inside the closet was definitely not a happy one. Jake had flattened himself against the walls to give Unique as much room as possible as her fingers flexed at her side.

 

"Well this was perfect thought out," The girl muttered, her voice a bitter slash of sarcasm.

 

Jake turned his head away from Unique, "Talkback?"

 

There was only silence on the other end of his communicator though, and another set of footsteps stampeded past outside.

 

"So... Do you think we should fight?" Unique asked as the footsteps passed out of earshot. Jake looked to her in confusion. "If they find us. Should we fight back, or should we let them arrest us?"

 

"Fight." Jake said, looking at her in disbelief, "Why wouldn't we?"

 

"Because if they don't know we're like this, we might just get put in a prison. If we're in a normal prison, Ryder could probably get us out." Unique glared at him, and he felt very uncomfortable. She'd been more emotional lately, swinging wildly between depressed and violent on a pins head. He turned away again, hoping that they could go back to the awkward silence they'd had in the hallway. "Do you think I'm stupid?"

 

"What? No! Obviously not!"

 

"Well, I was just wondering. I mean, I'm not your boyfriend or your girlfriend, so I don't know if I rank anywhere in this team of yours." She snapped, and Jake had to hold his tongue as footsteps slammed past them again. Unique didn't look away from him though, her hand moving to brace the door shut.

 

The soldiers stopped outside, and Jake held his breath. He could feel himself flattening even further against the wall until his body started to slip into the tiny cracks in the brickwork. Unique didn't seem to be panicking though. It might be easier for her. She could smash her way out, but they could probably catch him really easily. He'd be lab experiment for years.

 

It wasn't until they started moving again, that he let out the breath he had been holding. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest and it took him a moment to remember how to speak. "What did you mean by that?"

 

"You knew what I meant." Unique huffed, finally looking away, "Where's Marley? She hasn't said anything in a while."

 

"I don't know." Jake muttered tapping the communicatoe. There was still the tiny amount of dull static, but nothing from Marley. "If we are on our own, we should get he mission done as quickly as possible.

 

"Unique Smash." She muttered sarcastically, grating on Jake's last nerve. But they stepped out together into the hallway. The emergency lights were flashing, but there wasn't any sounds of an alarm. Just doors being slammed open and people shouting and running. Jake glanced up at a camera, hoping against hope that Marley could still see them somehow.

 

"Come on!" Unique hissed, grabbing his arm and starting to run toward the center of the facility. Jake let her, wrapping his body tightly into a ball shape. It was only a couple of corridors later, when the soldiers turned out into corridor. Unique's hand started to unclench. "Jake..."

 

"Throw me!"

 

The next moment, he was sailing through the air, shifting his body into the shape of a football. He spiralled through the air, picking up speed before he turned back to his normal humanoid shape as he hit. Both soldiers hit the ground hard, and he quickly grabbed their guns away, stamping on their radioes hard enough to shatter them. Unique paused to lightly tap the guards head against the ground, leaving them completely dazed. He was already running though, the spare gun thrown behind him and the other held tightly in his hand as he opened fire. Two soldiers turned the corner, and quickly ducked back into cover. Undaunted, Jake and Unique continued to advance. The bullets richocheted harmlessly off their skin, and when they reached the corner, Unique leaned in and grabbed them both, knocking their heads together.

 

"Here." She gestured to the wall, putting a hand flat against it for a moment. "Right?"

 

"Yeah, start hitting." Jake ignored the way she glared at him. She started laying into the wall fiercely, starting to crack it in seconds, and after a few moment it was wide enough for him to glance in.

 

The room beyond was completely dark and empty at first glance, but slowly something started to glow at the center of the room. There was a tugging in his chest, and the emptier he felt the more the light grew. He stepped back as she finally created a crack big enough for him to squeeze through. He could hear her start hitting the wall further away, in an attempt to open the crack wide enough to pull herself through.

 

The ground underneath him was uneven, and on closer inspection he could feel it was rock. It was as though the ground had never been touched before, and a chill passed over him. Jake shivered, and glanced behind him at where Unique had finally pulled herself through the hole she had made. "So, do we just... smash it?"

 

The 'It' in question was a small figurine of a golden man stood on a pedestal. Its eyes were closed tight, and holding a symbolic moon and sun in its hands. But every moment, it seeme to get hotter and brighter, and there was the thundering sound of footsteps.

 

"Leave it to me," Unique muttered, reaching over and grabbing the figurine with both hands. As soon as she did, the light flared up to an unbearable level, and Jake lunged forwards gripping her hands and trying to pull them away.

 

The moment his fingers made contact though, It was like the world was stripping away to its seperate lines and colors, before crashing back together in the most painful way. The air burnt at Jake's lungs and his eyes hurt.

 

Everything was wrong. Up was down, left was right, black was white. This wasn't a place for people to exist. And in the distance was a swarm of insectoid creatures flying towards them faster than Jake could understand. A green carapace and purple underbelly, with a terrifying yellow glow.

 

"We are Legion! We are coming!"

 

The scream filled the heavens, and Jake slammed his hands together as Unique did the same, shattering the idol in their hands and changing the world all over again. This time they were on an island. Looking at the Golden Gate Bridge, he felt a sense of peace and positive energy around him. Around him, teenagers and children played with obvious mutations.

 

"Where..." Jake started, turning to Unique who looked around in wonder at what they were seeing.

 

"Is this the world the guy from our dream is trying to create?" Unique asked, her eyes open ion wonder as the kids started to look at them in confusion. "A world where we're not alone? Where..."

 

Unique suddenly jerked forward, holding her side and yelling out in pain. Jake jerked away, letting go of what remained of the idol, as the room faded back to start reality where Unique was holding a bloody wound in her side.

 

"Sir!" They're reacting again!"

 

They both turned back to the sound of the voice, and were confronted with a wall of soldiers. The soldiers started to lift there guns, and Jake reacted on instinct. He surged forward with his power, barreling through them in seconds as his world seemed to narrow to pinpricks.

 

He turned back to Unique, but the girl couldn't seem to move. She took half a step forward and started to collapse. Jake jerked forward, his body stretching and wrapping around her.

 

"How long were we out?" Unique whimpered as he forced her to her feet. Together they started to walk forward, Jake supporting her as much as possible as she found her feet.

 

"They must've been trying for a while," Jake called back, as they stepped over bullet casing. "How did they manage to shoot you?"

 

"I don't know... I feel so drained..." Unique said stumbling forward into the hallway. Another soldier came down the hall. The bullets richocheted off Jake's skin.

 

"Come on, you need to soak up as much light as you can!" Jake said as they started to run towards the entrance. Any soldiers they met were quickly knocked out of the way as Jake defended Unique's suddenly fragile skin. They had been vaguely aware that Unique's strength was enhanced by the light, but they hadn't thought that it could be drained somehow.

 

They quickly turned a corner, and Jake pulled himself away from Unique. He started to expand quickly, and filled the corridor with his arms and legs. Almost immediately, he could feel the gun shots bouncing off them, but he held fast.

 

Unique propped herself against the wall, the stomach wound healed slowly in time with the flashing of the alarm. As soon as she was healed, they could get out. All they'd have to do is fight their way off the island.

 

The skin finally closed over, and Unique forced herself to her feet. Jake readied himself to pull his body back together when Ryder appeared in midair. He smashed against the wall opposite Jake, his eyes panicked and his body covered in blood. He hit with enough force to crack the wall, and he slowly slid to the floor. There was a moment when Jake met his eyes, and then Ryder's eyes closed and he collapsed completely.

 

 


	6. Runaways 6

Marley could hear her own breathing.

 

She stared straight ahead at the floorboards above her, hearing them crack as Kitty hunted for her along with a swarm of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. Every few minutes, Kitty would let loose a blast of energy that Marley was sure was destroying the walls. But none of them had thought to look down yet.

 

There was the sound of sirens in the distance, and Marley could hear their communications in the back of her head. When this had all started, Ryder had tried to fight Kitty for a few minutes. But now he had vanished, and she didn't want to imagine what had happened to him.

 

The space under the floors used to be where the previous inhabitant hid the bodies of the hookers he killed. It had never been found, since the police had never discovered this hotel room, but Marley had worked it out the moment she stepped inside. It was too small for the entire group to hide in, so she hadn't said anything.

 

It might have been the only thing that saved her.

 

Through the gaps in the floorboards, she could make out the general shape of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, as he stood waving the staff about.

 

She had seen it before she got her powers. The footage of Loki attacking Germany and New York had been all over the internet. He'd used it to fire blasts of energy, and supposedly to control people's minds. But then it vanished. Now it was clear, S.H.I.E.L.D. had found it and worked out how to use it.

 

But beyond that, a half forgotten memory tugged at her. She was strapped to a table, as a man forced it into her chest. It was hard to hold on to, but it was there in the corner of her mind.

 

Before this, Ryder had been sat right next to her as she sat at the laptop, helping lead Unique and Jake through the base. Kitty had elected to stand in the hall and watch the door incase someone tracked them back. It was suppose to be baseless paranoia, but then...

 

Unique and Jake were noticed, and as she directed them to a hiding place there was an unsettling silence around the room.

 

Kitty's voice had called for Ryder from the hallway, and Ryder had quickly moved towards the door. The second his hand had closed on the door handle and started to pull it open, the door turned to splinters. Ryder vanished into nothingness as Kitty's energy blast hit the wall opposite the door. Marley knew she only had a moment, and caused as much damage to the base as possible. Ryder flashed back in front of her, skin covered in nicks from the splinters.

 

"Run!"

 

But there was no way that she could get past Kitty. Instead, she ran over to the floorboards and yanked them up, quickly sliding into place. In the distance, she could hear the sounds of Ryder and Kitty fighting, before the room went silent.

 

That was half an hour ago.

 

"Any sign?" One of the agents asked, walking directly over Marley's head. She held her breath, wishing she had any other power. With Jake or Unique or Kitty's powers she could fight her way out, or with Ryder's power she could run away. All she could do was hide herself on their equipment. She couldn't fight back or escape. She was trapped.

 

"Nothing. What should we do with this new one?" Another agent replied, tapping Kitty's shoulder. Kitty rocked on the balls of her feet, and then returned to her original place. Marley could only just see her though, next to the window.

 

"Did you see the footage of New York? She could be useful."

 

"Okay... Well, we should call in an extraction team then?"!

 

Marley closed her eyes, stretching her power out as far as she could. There was nothing useful. A couple of cranes several blocks away. Cars with radios driving past. Planes with hundreds of passengers over head.

 

Nothing useful. She couldn't even see the army base, or speak to Jake and Unique.

 

Unless...

 

It was risky. Furhter than she had ever gone before with her power. But if she didn't, they'd lose Kitty and find her body under the floor boards when it started to smell.

 

She slipped her mind into the cranes, and reorientated herself. From there, she jumped into a car, and then into a cell tower. Then to a plane, to an airport, to a military radar dish, to... Satelites!

 

Above the world, there were some of the most advanced machines, and some of the most archaic ones too. Anywhere on the world, at any time, there was a good chance you were being watched. And Marley just had to find one that was looking at San Francisco and taking control of it. She leapt from one to the next at blinding speed, seeing pieces of the world that she barely knew existed, and would forget the next. Until she found it. An old Stark Industries Satelite aimed at San Francisco. She looked through it's lenses, zooming in as quickly as she could and drawing on every piece of knowledge on the internet to help her.

 

It was easy to find them after that. The misshapen human temperature walls were definitely Jake, and the other two... One might be Unique, and the other could be Ryder!

 

She started to follow the trail back to her body, slamming back into it with a barely held in gasp. For a minute, she could barely think as her mind pieced itself back together from all the places she'd been.

 

Kitty was stood above her, looking down at her with panicked eyes. Somewhere nearby, someone was talking in German above them. She knew that Jake, Ryder and Unique were okay. Now she just had to find a way out of this.

 

* * *

 

 

Kitty couldn't move an inch. She could see Marley through the cracks in the floorboards, and she couldn't help her. All because some guy in a S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform jabbed her with a metal staff. All she could do was stand and listen to everything they were saying. If she was lucky, she could turn on them and escape.

 

Marley was obviously terrified, and Kitty could only stare back. She couldn't force herself to look away, and if the S.H.I.E.L.D agent followed her eyes he'd find Marley in seconds. So she tried to look as bored as possible. Below her, Marley closed her eyes again.

 

Suddenly, the sound of the fire alarm started, and the man looked up in confusion. His grip on the rod tightened, and Kitty wished she could throw herself at him. But she couldn't even tense up as the sprinklers above her started to vibrate violently, and the ceiling cracked beneath the pressure. The agent with the rod started to back away a little, as the sprinkler exploded under the pressure. A chunk of metal embedded itself inches away from her head.

 

The agent hadn't backed up far enough, as a metal rod snapped through the ceiling above him and smacked into his skull, knocking him to the ground as water gushed down onto him. Kitty felt her muscles go loose, and she took a step forward under her own power. Her eyes locked on the staff, and in one smooth movement, she crossed the room and launched it through the window.

 

The agent was screaming in pain, holding his face, and Kitty had to stop herself from blasting his skull into dust. Instead, she moved to where the floor boards were trying to push upwards and pulled them aside, revealing Marley.

 

"Come on!"

 

Marley forced herself to her her feet, obviously unstable. Kitty quickly wrapped her arm around Marley's waist, and pulled her towards the door. The walls were smashed apart from her fight with Ryder, and she had to step around the rubble as they rushed for the stairs. Behind them, the agent was yelling loudly, but Kitty didn't dare look back at him. The door to the stairwell evaporated under a blast of energy, leaving on the hinges. Marley's legs seemed to give out for a moment, and Kitty had to almost carry her onto the stairwell. The stairs looked impossible, and Kitty paused trying to work out how to get down them with Marley. She turned back to the hallway, where the agent had finally managed to follow them out of the room. A quick blast forced him to take cover or risk losing his lungs and ribs to a blast of energy.

 

"Come on! Marley, get your shit together!" She yelled in Marley's ear over the alarm. It was a risky move, and as the other girl leant away Kitty wondered if she'd just knocked the last bit of fight out of the other girl. But then, Marley pushed herself upright, her legs stronger even if she was leaning on Kitty's shoulder. Together, they started to descend the stairs as quickly as they could, Kitty watching over her shoulder for the agent following them.

 

Their pumps slapped hard against the stone steps, as Marley held onto the solid stone bannister to steady herself. They'd just reached the halfway mark down to the next floor, when Marley stumbled towards Kitty. Kitty grabbed at her, almost falling down the stairs as a bullet smashed into the wall next to their heads. Kitty let out a sharp scream, throwing her hands up and blasting away a huge part of the stairs above. They started down the stairs again, as the agent tried to skirt around the hole in the staircase.

 

They managed to get down a few more floors, before a third pair of footsteps joined theirs. Kitty pulled Marley through the door onto the empty floor. Marley sprawled out onto the ground, and Kitty turned back onto the stairwell. Rather than unleashing the energy in her arms straight away, she let it build up, feeling as though the nerves there were burning. The footsteps got closer, and finally the agent came into view.

 

And that was when Kitty let loose. The energy rocketed out of her hands, and she closed her eyes tightly as the light burnt at her eyes. There was the feeling of exhaustion, and then she felt herself falling backwards. As she hit the ground, there was a sound of a helicopter, but Kitty couldn't open her eyes again.

 

* * *

 

 

Jake held the gun against the back of the soldiers head, breathing as steadily as he could. The pilot wouldn't stop shaking, and Jake might have felt guilty if the guy hadn't tried to shoot Unique three times at point blank range. But it still worried him, since the pilot was currently driving this high tech aircraft.

 

Jake and Unique had had to fight there way out of the army base in the end, Ryder cradled in one of Unique's arms. They had almost dropped him as Unique warped the large metal doors of the base closed with her bare hands, locking most of the soldiers inside.

 

The current pilot had been ouitside, and they had forced him into the aircraft. Unique was in the back of the ship, looking over Ryder. The other boy was completely unaware of his surroundings, and he was bruised beyond belief. But he looked better now that he was in the ship. In the base it looked as though he had been burnt.

 

"Where are we?" He slurred, and Jake could hear Unique trying to answer him. Her voice was broken up, and it would only take Ryder a few seconds of stunned silence to ask again. Jake couldn't even begin to think about what would happen when this was all done. What if he was bleeding into his brain? Marley would know what to do, but still..

 

"Where are we?" Ryder asked again, looking to Jake in confusion. Jake lowered his gun a little, and turned back to Ryder.

 

"We're in a ship. We're going back to get Marley and Kitty," Jake explained, looking to Unique who was holding Ryder's hand softly. "How do you feel?"

 

"Hurt." Ryder hissed, trying to pull himself upright. "I'm sorry."

 

"You're fine, Ryder," Unique said softly, rubbing Ryder's back and trying to get him to lie back down. "We're all going to be fine. We just need to go pick up Marley and Kitty."

 

"Oh..." Ryder huffed and took a few deep breaths, "Kitty... Kitty tried to kill me."

 

"She what?" Unique asked, her posture straightening.

 

"She started trying to kill me. She would have if I didn't..." He made a vague gesture in the air, that Jake would guess meant 'teleport away'. "I hope Marley is okay."

 

"Holy shit!"

 

The pilots yell came half a second before the aircraft started a nose dive, the cabin lit up with a blinding light that made everything shake. Unique braced herself against the wall, and tried to hold onto Ryder who started to throw up. Jake forced himself into the co-pilot seat as the pilot pulled them steady.

 

And then he zeroed in on the source of the light. The hotel they had been staying in looked as though it had been exploded from the inside out. The buildings nearby were damaged too, and it looked as though someone had carved a line out into the vity.

 

"Land nearby! We need to get there!" He yelled at the pilot. They needed to save Marley, and Kitty too if she wasn't trying to kill them anymore.

 

* * *

 

 

Kitty came to in a daze. Everything hurt, and her lips cracked when she moved them. A pressure was tight against her shoulder, and as she forced her eyes open, she found Ryder lead shoulder to shoulder with her. For a moment she panicked as she saw guns in lockers on the walls, and the steady thrum of an engine was all she could hear.

 

She forced herself upright, taking a moment for the world to stop spinning. In the front of the plane, she could see Jake and Marley talking as Marley piloted the ship. "Where..." She coughed, her throat painfully dry. "Where are we?"

 

There was a rustling behind her, and Unique was quickly next to her, helping her off the floor and into a seat. "How are you?"

 

"Painfully." Kitty muttered, rolling her eyes, "Where are we?"

 

"I don't know. But Marley's taking us somewhere where we can hide." Unique glanced at the two of them. "You had us scared. We couldn't wake you up, and..."

 

"I must've burnt myself out," Kitty grumbled. "Why were we all in a pile on the floor?"

 

"There aren't any beds on a plane," Unique shrugged, rubbing at her eyes tiredly. "Marley told us what happened. How are you?"

 

"I tried to kill Ryder," the words tasted foul in her mouth, but she forced herself to say them. "They used this weird staff, and I couldn't do anything except what they told me to do."

 

"I know. It was horrible-" Unique started, but Kitty cut in.

 

"But didn't you all say that Sinister said our powers came from some kind of psychic thing? I think mind control counts as a psychic thing."

 

"Are you saying-"

 

"What if that staff is how they made you?" Kitty continued, "I mean... It could be! And that'd explain so much."

 

"Okay..." Unique said soothingly, petting Kitty's back, and strapping her into one of the seats. "Look, you're exhausted. Rest for a little bit longer, okay? We're going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay. Okay?"

 

"Liar." Kitty muttered, but let her head slump forward as her exhaustion overtook her, and the darkness overtook her again.

 

* * *

 

 

Night had settled over the forest they had landed in. The ship was completely powered down, and anything that could be transmitting their location had been torn out of the ship by Unique and Marley. There was only the sound of the forest around them, and the fire gently crackling under Jake's attention.

 

He couldn't sleep. Ryder and Kitty were still mostly out of it, and Jake couldn't blame them. They'd both been through a lot. If he had his way, Unique and Marley would be asleep too, but Unique's wounds were now completely gone, and Marley claimed she couldn't sleep if she wanted to.

 

Right now, they were sat on the opposite of side of the fire. Nobody had said anything for too long.

 

Jake broke the silence. "We were sloppy."

 

"We spent too long in San Francisco," Unique added, looking back at him. "We got comfortable, and we stopped..." She trailed off, looking for the words.

 

"We stopped being paranoid about S.H.I.E.L.D." Marley said, sitting upright and folding her hands on her lap. "That let them track us down."

 

"And we were so focused on our own stupid teenage problems, we forgot that we have bigger stuff." Unique muttered.

 

"Just because we have bigger problems, doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about what's bothering us. We're not mindless drones who do this stuff without feelings." Jake leaned forward, the heat of the fire warming his face. "What was wrong?"

 

"I'm just getting so exhausted with being treated like a foot soldier." Unique shrugged, "I'm one of the strongest members of the team, and my power was one of the two most developed in the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, but I never seem to get a say in what's happening."

 

Jake nodded, his lips thinning as he grit his jaw. "Is that what you meant when you..."

 

"Don't repeat it." Unique held up a hand. "I'm didn't mean it. I was being childish."

 

"Well, we have two missions in New York." Marley said, and Jake turned his attention to her. "There's one at this old mansion, and one in this abandoned building. Maybe, Unique could lead one of the teams, and we can get both done at once. It'll mean we're in New York less time."

 

"It sounds like a plan." Jake nodded, and then paused. Turning back to Unique, he tilted his head, "What do you think?"

 

"I think it's a great idea." Unique said, grinning. Jake forced a smile back, making a note to make sure that Ryder went with that team. Marley's solution was the most logical fix, but Unique was still emotionally volatile. They might need the quickest escape route.

 

Marley seemed to hesitate for a moment, before she stood up. "I had another thing."

 

"What's wrong?" Jake asked, standing up too.

 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had this staff. But when I saw it, I remembered something else. Something I couldn't really work out. It was like I had seen it before."

 

"It was Loki's staff, you said. You probably saw it before there." Unique frowned, and shuddered at the same moment that Jake felt something crawling over his skin.

 

"No. I mean... I remember being attached to a table, and someone was stabbing at me with it. But I can't work out when I'm remembering it from." As Marley continued to speak, the crawling seemed to increase, until Jake had to rub at his skin to remind himself that there was nothing on it.

 

"Was there people behind a glass wall?" Unique asked in a small voice, her eyes narrowing.

 

"Yeah." Jake cut in, as a memory sparked. And pain sparked across the front of his head and his chest. "And a german man was holding it."

 

"So, it's real? We're not imagining it?" Marley asked, her eyes widening. "Oh god."

 

"What?" Unique asked, looking back at Marley who was taking a step back.

 

"The staff. When Loki used it, it made people evil-"

 

"I'm not evil!" Unique snapped, folding her arms. "Why would you even-"

 

Marley continued, "What I'm saying is that it could have been used to change our minds. We could be being mind controlled right now, and we wouldn't even know about."

 

Jake frowned, crossing his arms and looking between them. "What do we do about that?"

 

"Maybe this'll help." Unique shrugged, "I mean, we know about it now?"

 

"We just have to watch ourselves." Marley agreed, nodding to herself. "Okay. We can do that, right?"

 

"Yeah." Jake sighed, and sat back down. Marley joined him taking his hand. "We're going to be fine."

 

 

 


	7. Runaways 7

 

The plan for New York was simple. Unique would lead Marley and Ryder into the first objective. It was a lab that used to belong to a company called Ozcorp. The company had fallen apart, and nobody had bought the building since. Unique and Ryder were supposed to be the ones who dealt with any opposition that might show up, whilst Marley was there to deal with any computers they might run into.

 

Jake and Kitty were dealing with the much simpler part of the plan. The second location was a mansion close to Central Park, and had no security or anything. Once owned by Howard Stark, it had lain abandoned and forgotten. They were to go into their target and smash whatever was there.

 

Unique was in charge of her team. And she was confident.

 

"Okay, we're in." Marley said, removing her hand from the buidlings keypad. The door opened slowly, rusted from years of disuse. Unique strode into the room, trying to exude as much confidence as she could. She flicked her hair over her shoulder as she took in her surroundings. The place almost looked like a hospital waiting room, and she confidently walked towards the elevator.

 

"Why are the lights still on?" Ryder asked curiously, looking around at the fluorescent lights.

 

"The building is still drawing power from the grid. Someone must have forgotten to turn it off." Marley shrugged, putting her hand on Ryder's shoulder in a comforting gesture.

 

Unique rolled her eyes, continuing to walk towards the elevator. This was probably where people would wait to go upstairs to the labs. At the moment, it was full of withered plants and wet patches where pipes had dripped down onto the floor. But she could imagine the way it would have been.

 

The elevator was a creaky metal contraption. She reached it first, and had to press the button three times to get the doors to react.

 

"I could just teleport us upstairs," Ryder offered, looking at the elevator dubiously. Unique was almost ready to agree with him. It didn't look safe in any respect.

 

Still, it was only a few days ago that he had been damaged to the brink of death. Marley had suggested that they all had some degree of enhanced healing, which made sense. There was no use to a super expensive soldier who was likely to die. But she didn't want to push his or her luck. "It'd be better for us to keep you in reserve."

 

Marley gave her a disapproving look, but Unique shook it off easily. She was in charge. This mission would be perfect, and then she could get some degree of control back over her life.

 

They all fit in the elevator thankfully, and she hit the top floor button.

 

"What makes you think it's the top floor?" Marley asked, as the machinery whirred into life and they started their ascent.

 

"We're in a huge building where science happens. It's always the top floor or the sub-basement. And there's no sub-basement button." Unique said, shrugging to herself. The higher they went, the thicker the air seemed to get. There must have been some kind of pollen lab up here, she decided as her skin started to itch a little.

 

"So... Uh... After this, we should hit up some shop," Ryder muttered, leaning on the side of the elevator. "Because, maybe nobody else noticed, but Unique's shirt has blood on it, and I'd kill for some clean underwear."

 

Unique looked down, where the jacket she was wearing had flapped open revealing the bullethole and discoloration of old blood. Nobody else would connect the two, but it was an obvious sign of what had happened to the people in the elevator. "That's a great idea. You're so sweet for noticing."

 

"Sweet?" Ryder blinked, looking to Marley for guidance. "I wasn't thinking about your looks."

 

Oh. Unique let out a soft huff and tilted her head away, trying not to notice the way Marley smirked. "Well, we'll still look into it."

 

The elevator pinged with a discordant noise, and Unique stamped past her. This floor had definitely seen the ravages of time. Every possible surface was covered in spiderwebs thick enough to be completely opaque. Ryder shuddered behind her, and Unique tried to work out if the chittering was as loud as she thought it might be. Her mind was playing tricks on her, right?"

 

"Okay, this is creepy enough to be a big science place," Ryder finally muttered, breaking the silence that had fallen. "I don't like it."

 

"It's fine." Marley said soothingly, and this time Unique sighed out loud. Marley turned to her, with narrowed eyes. "What?"

 

"He's not a little boy, Marley." Unique snapped back, turning on her heels to look at thm. "We get it, okay? You win. Every guy in the world wants you."

 

"Hey!" Marley snapped back, her fists obviously clenching at her side. "Why are you being so agressive!"

 

"Uh, guys?" Ryder tried to interupt as he stepped back. But Unique felt caged in still. The air was thick with something, and every breath seemed to dull her senses. Marley was still glaring.

 

"Because Ryder can be in love with you, but not in love with me!" Unique yelled, her own fist curling at her side, feeling the blood throb at her temples.

 

"What?"

 

Ryder's confusion went unnoticed as Marley stepped into Unique's personal space with a savage grin. "That's right, everyone wants me, and nobody wants you here! You're the piece that doesn't fit!"

 

Unique knew she should feel hurt, but instead blinding rage overtook her. Her fist was moving before she even thought it through. The only thing that saved Marley from becoming a bloody smear was Ryder teleporting her away. They reappeared a few feet down the hallway, and Unique started to walk towards them, the blood pounding in her ears.

 

Ryder looked between them frantically, gripping Marley's arm tightly and yanking her away from Unique. "What are you doing-?" He let out a yelp of surprise, as Marley jerked her arm out of his hand, and rushed towards Unique. The other girl's face was twisted into a violent grin, as her eyes went blank. The following attack was probably dragged from some youtube video somewhere, and Unique was sure that Marley was perfectly copying it.

 

The only reaction from Unique was to turn her nose slightly away from the flying kick. The force felt like someone gently poking her in the arm, rather than a kick to the face. Marley's eyes unclouded, and then clouded over again as she pulled up some other attack. But Ryder had overcome his surprise and had grabbed her again, this time dropping Marley in the elevator, and reappearing between them. "Guys! Stop it! I don't know what's going on, but you need to stop!"

 

"Why are you defending her!" Unique snapped, "She's never going to date you!"

 

Ryder's attention was split for a moment, and that was all Marley needed to pass him again, with a series of impressive flips and attacks that Unique was sure would have killed a human. But they didn't even make Unique flinch.

 

_Kill. Kill them. Prove your strength!_

 

The whispers in her ears were now words, reaching a cressendo, as she reached out and grabbed at Marley. She felt hair against her fingers, before Ryder managed to get behind her. The teleportation left her confused for a moment, and he used that second to send the elevator down.

 

"I don't know what's going on, but you both need to calm down." Ryder called after her. She couldn't even speak as the waves of anger hit her, just let out a furious roar. As if reacting to her anger, the power in the building seemed to flicker, and Ryder let out a panicked yell. The elevator had stopped moving and she hit the button to send it back up.

 

The sight that greated her was like a horror movie. The corridor was alive with swarms of spiders, the size of dogs. They were everywhere, on the ceiling and the walls. Ryder and Marley were doing there best to hold them back, but they were being pushed back. Unique narrowed her eyes and shoved past her 'friends', grabbing the closest spider and launching it at the largest clump of spiders. Another tried to get past her, and she yanked a leg off to pull it to the floor and stamp on it.

 

Marley seemed to take that as a challenge, stepping forward with a pipe she had grabbed from somewhere, and started spearing through spiders one at a time. Her eyes were blank, but Unique could sense the arogance behind them. It took everything not to turn on the other girl. The air was thick with the dust again, and looking at her skin, she could see her veins throbbing beneath the surface.

 

The waves seemed to go on for ever, and Unique found herself stuck side by side with Marley, with Ryder nowhere in sight. But each wave had more spiders in them than the last but must smaller, and harder to strike.

 

A tap on her shoulder almost made her lash out, but she held back as Ryder thrust an oxygen mask at her. Another went to Marley, and the last he pulled over his own head. Then he vanished again.

 

The pounding in her ears slowly filtered out, and she took the first deep breath she could remember taking in at least half an hour. Ryder reappeared a moment later, at the far end of the hallway, dropping cans on the ground, that quickly released clouds of mist. The effect was instantaneous, the smaller spiders just rolling up dead, and the few bigger ones trying to escape and dying in the effort.

 

He continued forward, and Unique rushed after him. The voice was whispering in the back of her mind still, violent and dark. Marley kept her distance, and Unique appreciated that. Because she thought that if the girl tried to speak to her or get too close, she might give in to those whispers.

 

* * *

 

 

Jake knew as soon as he stepped onto the mansion's ground that something was very, very wrong. The sounds of the city outside vanished into nothingness, and moving through the air was like trying to walk through syrup. From the outside, it probably looked like a photograph with the people in it still trying to move.

 

But the thing that really put him on edge was the statue garden. Everything that wasn't pathways was instead covered in statues that were uncannily realistic representations of Superheroes. And Jake was sure they were superheroes. Underneath each statue was a small plinth, with ba plaque naming them. But the statues had to be centuries old at least, in various states of disrepair. Some were missing all together, but they were too far away to make out a name.

 

"Jake, look!"

 

Kitty's call came out slightly warped, like something had slown it down by a tenth of a second. He looked up at what she was pointing at, where a bird had crossed over into the mansion grounds, and quickly began to decay."

 

"It like this cornerstone is defending itself," Jake said, looking away and trying to keep walking.

 

"Why aren't we dying like the bird then?" Kitty asked, backing up a little, "We need to get out of here, Jake..."

 

"There's no time. S.H.I.E.L.D. must have noticed us by now," Jake looked up and out of the mansion grounds to where the Halicarrier was hanging in the sky in the distance. If they didn't deal with this now, they wouldn't get a second chance. But so far, the only thing that stood out was the statues. "It's something to do with them," he muttered, leaning in closer to one of the statue. The closer he got, the more he could make out. Pores and individual hairs, too precise to be chiselled or printed.

 

"Maybe, we should break them?" Kitty suggested, moving to one, and pressing her hand against it as though testing the weight. "Perhaps there's something inside?

 

"Maybe?" Jake took a step away, glancing around again. His skin prickled, as though someone was watching him intensely.

 

"Should we blow up 'Jonny Blaze, the Ghost Rider,' or 'Shuri, the Black Panther,'" Kitty called out, and the words seemed to take on a life of there own. The statues she had spoken about seemed to explode with energy, and the light burnt like pyre into the sky. The light seemed to curve back around and hit the ground. Jake couldn't look away as the light took shape, first as vague humanoids and then taking on more of the statues features until it was the perfect copy. They stood completely still for a moment, and then the closest, a skeleton in biker leather, suddenly burst into fire. The almost obsidian statue also started to move like water.

 

The first move was the skeleton, who swung a long chain of metal like a whip and shattering the pathway where the other statue had been. She had already flipped out of the way, and released a barrage of knives. They all hit the skeleton head on, but they didn't seem to have any effect on him. The chain flicked up, and caught the woman's leg. She was yanked to the ground, and tried to untangle herself as the skeleton dragged her towards him. Before she'd undone the first link, she was at his feet, and the skelton had a grip around her throat. He lifted her one handed, and met her eyes through the mask.

 

In the beat of a heart, the light that had made her up vanished in a nimbus of energy that was sucked back into the statue she had come from. The skeleton turned to look at them for a moment, before it also turned back into energy and streaked away into the sky, quickly vanishing from sight.

 

For a long moment, there was no sound. And then Jake let out a panicked breath he'd been holding. Kitty looked around wildly, as though she expected more ghosts to leap out at her. "What was that? You saw that right!"

 

"I..." He didn't know how to answer, and instead focused on the concrete facts. "The statue is gone."

 

Kitty turned to the plinth that used to hold 'Jonny Blaze', and froze. But then she took a deep breath, and the sharp mind came into play. "This is a prison. Like with the gladiators. They fight each other to get a chance to escape."

 

"You know about the gladiators?" Jake quipped.

 

"It was a good movie," Kitty shot back sharply, narrowing her eyes and daring him to make another joke. He held his hands up in defeat, and instead, started to take a headcount. The number of statues that remained far outnumbered the ones that had escaped.

 

"We should look at the empty spaces." He suggested, pushing forward towards the center. Kitty moved alongside him, and Jake was focused on the people who were missing. "Do you know... Scott Lang?"

 

"No?"

 

"Apparently he's a superhero called Ant-Man?" Jake looked to see if it sparked anything in her mind, but she shrugged and carried on. "Stephen..." He paused, and gestured to the sign. "This guy?"

 

"Nope."

 

They walked for a good quater of an hour, each time pausing at empty plinths and seeing if the names sparked an idea in his head. But they were just names. Without a face to match to the name, he didn't have a chance. They could be anyone.

 

"That's Captain America!" Kitty pointed at the largest plinth in the distance, with five people stood on it. For a moment they were just strangers, and then he could pick them out for who they were. "And Iron Man, and the Hulk, and Thor!"

 

The fifth man was a mystery, but they rushed towards it. Faces of people streamed past, but Jake was focused on the way that the Avengers still seemed to be growing bigger and bigger. Once they reached it, there was clearly a sixth figure, that was basically an insect next to the other statues, but yet was the same size as Jake himself. The other statues were around three stories high.

 

"Who are they?" Kitty gestured, pointing to one of the tall men and the tiny woman. "Where's Hawkeye, and the Black Widow?"

 

"And why are they still here?" Jake gestured, "I mean, the rest of these people don't seem to exist, but the Avengers do! Why is this statue here..."

 

"Hey..." Kitty finally looked around the plinth, "There's the front door."

 

"Should we go inside?" Jake asked, starting to move towards it, but as he tried to lift his leg he found himself to paralyzed. The air pulled it back down towards the ground, and held it there.

 

"Jake Puckerman. Kitty Wilde." A soft voice whispered through the courtyard. "You deny the throes of time. You are not of this time, this place. You are singular, and outside of the design. This makes you a problem. Prepare to see that inconvenience ended."

 

The wind picked up, whipping around there bodies, as something deep in Jake's gut seemed to rip away.

 

And a few feet away, energy started to pull from all over the courtyard, into a vaguely humanoid shape. The definition came slower, but were easily recognisable.

 

"It's....us." Kitty said, her voice barely above a breath, but it carried across the courtyard and reverberated through Jake's bones. It was true. It was impossible, but it was true.

 

 

 


	8. Runaways 8

Kitty watched Jake Puckerman looking at... Himself. Only, it was obviously not an exact copy of himself, because his double was clad in some kind of spandex, and had a pair of guns hanging to his waist that were throbbing with orange energy. Meanwhile, Jake was wearing a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt and sneakers that were starting to get very damaged from their constant use and abuse.

 

It was easier to focus on those two though, that to make eye contact with her own double. Especially because underneath the clothes and weaponry the Jake double was basically the same. The copy of herself was on the way to becoming completely unrecognisable. Her arms were missing from the elbow down, replaced with some kind of mechanical devices that hummed with the same white energy that made up Kitty's blasts of energy. Her hair was shaved to the skin, and her eyes were deep sunk and bruised. The green shirt and camoflague pants she was wearing screamed military.

 

It was almost the complete oposite to her own skirt and shirt, in reds and whites. The divide was almost painful to consider, and Kitty wished she could deny that this was her. But deep inside, she knew that this was her. This wasn't some kind of robot or shapeshifter, or a clone. It was her.

 

"Go!" Jake-2 yelled, his hands swinging for his guns with a speed that was telling of a lot of experience. "Kill them before they..."

 

Whatever he was about to shout was cut off by Kitty-2 releasing a stream of energy from her mechanical arms, deep red rather than the usual white color. The moment it hit Kitty, it was like she had stepped into a burning house, as the air seemed to turn to sludge and her skin felt like it was burning.

 

She thought she'd black out from the pain. But something inside her seemed to click, and her eyes flashed open. The world was red, bright enough to sear her eyes for a second, but the tingling just beneath her skin far outweighed the pain. It was like she had swallowed a battery, or stuck her finger in a power outlet. The energy was surging beneath her skin, begging to be released. In the distance, there was the sound of explosions, and that drew her out of her wonder. Jake could be hurt.

 

But what could she do against herself? She'd absorbed Kitty-2's blast somehow, so it made sense that Kitty-2 would be able to do the same to hers. But Jake-2 might not have any kind of defence.

 

Throught the red haze, she could make out two shapes leaping around, one of them with guns. The blast that she let out tore up the ground underneath it, and the statues it passed by shattered instantly. It hit Jake-2 with enough force that he lifted off the ground, and launched him several feet. Even with the blast though, the energy was still there.

 

Jake turned to her, look at her with wonder in his eyes. It was the opening Kitty-2 needed, as she turned away from Kitty and released another continuous stream of energy that burnt the ground beneath it. Even stood a good distance from it, the heat nearly forced Kitty away from it. Jake stumbled away like he was dazed, his body drooping as if he could get control of his elasticity.

 

Jake-2 took that opportunity to get to his feet. Kitty raised her hands again to try and stop him, but he flattened underneath it and then surged back up from the ground with his hands sharpened into points. Kitty tried to yell out, but another blast from Kitty-2 completely drowned her out. It wasn't hot or forceful. Just loud. Loud enough to make sure Jake had no chance.

 

Jake had started to rush forward, probably to attack Kitty-2, but his movement was halted when his chest exploded outwards. He looked at his chest in confusion for a moment, as Jake-2 pulled back his hands, before he collapsed lifelessly to the ground, his eyes stuck wide open from the shock. Jake-2 looked at him pityingly, and started to move away.

 

"No!" Kitty screamed, raising her hands and letting loose everything she had under her skin. Every inch of power gathered in her hands, and came out in bursts that quickly blended together into a single stream of pure white energy. If it had hit, it would have been devestating, but Jake-2 side stepped it easily, taking another step towards her.

 

The second stream took him by surprise, knocking him back into her own stream. He let out a yell, as he was caught in the spot where the streams met. His body twisted grotesquely to try and escape the streams, but the streams of pure white energy quickly overtook him, and he vanished into a hiss of smoke and energy,

 

Kitty collapsed forward, her hands steaming and shaking violently. It was like she'd stuck them in fire. But she still struggled to her feet, turning to Kitty-2, who had bowed her head.

 

"Why did you do that?"

 

"That wasn't your Jake. You need to make sure that never becomes your Jake." Kitty-2 gestured to where Jake-2 had vanished. "You need to destroy the cornerstones, and make sure the worlds merge. The five of you are the only ones who can do it. You're not really a part of what's going on here, so you're the only ones who can affect what will happen."

 

"I don't understand," Kitty whispered, shaking her head, "What happened to you? To... Me?" Kitty asked, taking a step back.

 

"We failed. We shattered three of four cornerstones, but it wasn't enough. When Star-Lord arrived to tell us about Thanos' coming, we did everything we could think of." Kitty-2 lifted her mechanical arms, "this is a part of the Weapon-X project. Unique killed Thor to try and take his hammer after Asgard retreated. Ryder stole the tesseract for Marley's experiments, which made Jake's weapons. And... Jake was the one who made us do it all."

 

"What?" Kitty's voice rang hollow, as she shook her head, "Jake wouldn't...."

 

"He wasn't the same after Puck died. And after Rachel killed Kurt, there wasn't anyone around to stop him." Kitty shook her head, "If you merge the worlds, we have a chance. If you can't... Or if you do, and Star-Lord still shows up..." Kitty-2 shuddered, "Youneed to make sure Ryder goes to Jake, not Sam. And make sure Rachel doesn't touch the Power Gem."

 

"And that fixes everything?" Kitty asked, looking over Jake's dead body. "Because Jake is already dead now."

 

"Not for long," Kitty-2 shook her head, and held out the mechanical arms. "Take them off me. Please."

 

Kitty moved to do as she asked, her fingers shaking as she undid buckles and straps. Kitty-2 stared passively at the whole procedure, until they were finally completely seperated.

 

"Get the guns too, before you shatter the cornerstone. The technology will be really useful, and this time you won't have to pay the price for it." Kitty-2 said, looking down at her arms with a soft look in her eyes. "Use one of the bags in the mansion."

 

"Where did you come from? And why can't you come with us?"

 

"The Time Gem. Its owner was sealed behind this cornerstone. Thanos used the remaining energy to lash out at you," Kitty-2 gestured around, "As soon as you shatter the cornerstone, all of this will fall apart and you'll go back to where you were before."

 

Kitty nodded awkwardly, watching her copy move through the statue garden for a moment, stopping at certain statues and smiling at them as though they were old friends.

 

When she had the bag, and had put everything inside it, she stopped by Jake's body. Just like Kitty-2 had suggested, he was already healing. His chest knitting itself back together visibly was kind of disgusting, but it meant he was still alive. She sat down by him, turning him over and wiping some of the dirt off his face.

 

Her Jake was nothing like the Jake that Kitty-2 had told her about. Killing Thor? Putting Kitty through horrific experiments to make her stronger? No. Their Jake just wanted them all to be safe. He was the one who reigned them all in.

 

But what would happen if Puck died? What if that pushed him into making darker choices to protect the people who were left? Maybe.

 

She sat there for a long time, until Jake finally gasped back to life.

 

Jake couldn't die. Not while there was a body left to heal itself. That was why Kitty-2 had helped her burn away Jake-2. It was almost biblical. Maybe somebody who couldn't die could become a monster in time. If she let him live, one day he could send her off to be turned into a living weapon!

 

_Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you._

 

It was ridiculous to think of Biblical verses at a time like this. The Bible wasn't written with the idea of time travel, and superheroes in mind. But it was what Kitty had built a large portion of her life around, and if she wanted any God to forgive her for what she would do, what she had done, she'd have to forgive Jake for something he might do one day.

 

The decision took half a second, and then she leaned in to hug him tight. He gasped for breath, his heart hammering in his chest. She held him still as his hands groped on the ground for purchase, and slowly he started to calm down.

 

* * *

 

 

The spiders weren't attacking anymore. Ryder was really happy about that at least. He'd already stolen a whole bunch of stuff, and he'd rather not steal from every store in New York.

 

But the spiders were still nearby, and they were stalking Ryder, Marley and Unique. They were obviously funneling them towards something, by the way that they would scuttle down certain halls, but stand firm in others. Ryder wasn't that nervous, he knew that they could teleport away if something happened.

 

But these spiders were smart. Smarter than Ryder had thought spiders could be.

 

"In here," Marley said, her voice short and vaguely hostile as they came to a pair of heavy metal doors. Both corridors on their sides were completely webbed over. Unique leaned forward and pushed on the metal, but even under her superhuman strength, it still opened agonisingly slowly. If they had to fight, Ryder wasn't sure how effective they'd actually be. Nobody had spoken more than they had to. Not since the arguement in the first hallway.

 

The roomthey stepped into was, surprisingly, clean of spiderwebs. It had an operating table in the middle, and computers around the outside, running painfully old looking programs. Marley instinctively moved towards a computer and pressed her hand against the screen, turning her back to the operating table. Ryder awkwardly stood next to her, not able to meet anyone's eyes. It wasn't that he was taking her side though! It was just that she was squishier than Unique.

 

"They were doing research on spider DNA." Marley explained after a few minutes. "Trying to see what would happen if you genetically engineered spiders towards a specific purpose. Stronger silk, pheromones, poison..." She trailed off, and then moved to another computer, pressing her hands against that one. "Another department was working on recreating the Super-Soldier Serum from old records."

 

"Why do they have both sets of files in this room?" Ryder asked in confusion, as Unique pushed the operating table up against the door and then pushed the metal into the ground. It would take something very strong to push those doors open again.

 

"Because one of the spiders got into an experimental batch of the formula, and then escaped." Marley shuddered, moving to another computer and pressing her hand into that one. "It bit a member of a tour, who immediately started to transform. He became a monster, and Ozcorp was forced to flood the building with neurotoxins. The whole incident was covered up, and Ozcorp went bankrupt soon after... But that doesn't make any sense..."

 

Ryder glanced over at where her eyes had gone completely blank. "What doesn't?"

 

"I'm looking at every scrap of information on biology at once..." The way she said it made it sound effortless, but her voice was completely monotone. She would be completely lost if someone didn't drag her back. "They had spiders built to inject neurotoxins, Ryder. And the Spider that escaped was specifically built to have all the abilities of the spiders they had developed. They filled the building with something that this creature has in it's blood."

 

"Wait..." Unique turned, giving up her silence as her eyes widened, "there was an examination table. They were examining something human sized."

 

"It's still alive." Marley said, with no trace of alarm. "It has the strength and speed and durability of Captain America, abilities of almost every type of spider..."

 

Ryder felt the back of his neck prickle. He had looked up when they entered the room, and decided they were fine since he didn't see anything. He looked up again, suddenly aware of a bulge next to the light, directly over Marley's head. He dove forward just as the roof gave way under a mass of brown fuzz. Ryder managed to get a hand on Marley's waist, picturing the other side of the room. They both flashed away, which seemed to seperate Marley from the internet just long enough to remind her that reality existed.

 

She screamed, and Ryder wasn't far behind her. Whatever this thing was, it defied reality. Six spiderleg thin arms, eyes like red boils pressing out of the brown fuzz, fangs that were obviously connected to some kind of jaw, but nothing that Ryder could even begin to understand. And it just radiated pain and anger and...

 

Unique only just stepped in the way, but the creature seemed ready for that, meeting her hands with the top most pair of it's own and holding her completely still. Ryder watched in shocked horror as the other four hands jerked unnaturally, and long bone-like stingers slid out. All four jabbed at Unique's ribs in tandem, and Ryder only just reached her with his fingertips before he moved her across the room.

 

The spider-creature chittered loudly, turning to look at the three of them at the other side of the room and diving. Ryder flashed again, planning on landing next to the door. He hit the spot, but something on the creatures back convulsed, and a bunch of webbing splattered across his chest. Suddenly he was jerked backwards and felt the webbing expand and connect to the wall. He tried to focus on flashing out of the webbing, but everything felt hazy and it was a struggle to keep his eyes open.

 

Marley was the next to be attacked, as she stepped cleanly out of the way of each strike, her eyes hazy. Ryder let his head roll down as she also sidestepped a blow, and then was pinned to the wall by the hazy webbing.

 

And then it was Unique's turn. But she'd obviously learnt a lot from the other two strikes, and reacted quickly. Gripping one arm, and slamming her fist down on the joint, she managed to rip it away from the body. She swung it like a club, smashing the creature across the room. It landed on the wall using four limbs and the other three made strange gestures at her. Balls of webbing started to shoot from it's wrists and Ryder could only watch as Unique dived out of the way. She rolled to a stop and threw the limb back at the creature, spearing it through the chest. Still the creature didn't stop, making it's way towards her even as it's legs failed it.

 

Unique reached out and ripped off another arm, and then another, backing up each time, until it had pressed her against the wall, with the stumps of it's remaining hands. His fangs gnashed at her, and Unique reached out and...

 

Squeezed.

 

* * *

 

 

Jake was surprised when the cornerstone turned out to be a purple helmet and green robe, that Kitty destroyed with a single blast. That was all the ceremony they gave this thing, as Jake huddled against Kitty's side weakly.

 

The effect rippled outwards from that, with the mansion aging before their eyes, and then the statue garden vanishing into plumes of energy that shot out across the sky. When it reached the walls that surrounded the mansion, the energy came sucking back towards them like a wall of light blue energy.

 

Jake closed his eyes, covering them with his hand, as the sky above seemed to flicker between night and day in fractions of seconds.

 

And then it was done.

 

He collapsed to the floor as waves of sickness hit him, and somewhere nearby he heard Kitty stumbling around.

 

But they had done it. The second cornerstone was destroyed and he hadn't died!

 

He'd been stabbed through the chest, seen his blood splattered all over the ground, but he wasn't dead.

 

Could he die?

 

He couldn't feel his heart beating any more, and he didn't really need to breath. He did it on instinct but after he had woken up, he'd held his breath for a solid 15 minutes without any kind of ill effect.

 

Kitty was right before. They weren't human anymore.

 

"Oh god," Kitty whispered, and Jake looked over in confusion, before following her eyeline upwards.

 

"This is private property."

 

Iron Man's voice was heavily modulated as he hung in the air. Jake stumbled backwards away from the armor, but something tackled him out of left field and electricity coursed through his body as hands forced a metal collar around his neck. He turned to see Black Widow looking at him completely blankly. Further away, Falcon swung down and pressed something into Kitty's neck that made her slump to the ground.

 

He let his body fall to the ground as Iron Man landed. The world around him was starting to fade away, but he was distinctly aware of the sounds of a plane landing, and his body being lifted off the ground and carried in that general direction.

 

And then darkness.

 

* * *

 

 

Marley was glad that everybody was fine now that they had been ripped off the walls. They shook their heads, as the world seemed to shift slightly around them. The spiders all seemed to shrivel and die, and the body...

 

She looked at Unique's hands which were covered in gore, and then back at the body. It was decaying very quickly, in seconds looking like it had been dead for weeks, and then years. She seemed to be the only one freaked out about that though, since Unique was focused on Ryder, who still looked a little dazed. While they calmed down, Marley was trying to connect to the internet again. It was hard going, probably because of some reaction to the pheromone that the spider creature had been letting out. She remembered that much of the knowledge she had been absorbing before the fight began. It was going to be important to know, especially since there was going to have to be a discussion about the way she and Unique had acted. Pheromones that forced their fight or flight instincts into overdrive. Not that it was a excuse.

 

Exhausted and battered, they made their way towards the entrance. They had just started to descend in the elevator when they noticed that they weren't alone.

 

"Shit." Ryder whispered, closing his eyes and obviously trying to pull up the energy to teleport them both away, Marley guessed he was failing, since they didn't move. "Shit."

 

Marley reached out with her mind, but couldn't find one piece of technology among any of the people waiting for them. They were close enough now that she could pick them out one by one, and her stomach felt like it was dropping. Captain America, Hawkeye... They would be enough to take out her and Ryder, but the main threat, the one that she was sure had been brought to handle Unique was stood calmly, his hand gripping the shaft of his hammer tightly.

 

Thor.

 

Marley closed her eyes shaking her head, "How far can you get us, Ryder?"

 

"Two feet?" Ryder whispered, stepping back against the edge of the elevator as it hit the first floor and continued to descend to the ground floor.

 

"Okay, keep trying. Unique, take Thor. I'll hold off Captain America and Hawkeye as long as I can." She could feel the connection to the internet, and absorbed everything on combat. It felt like taking a deep breath and holding it. The doors pinged open and Unique came out swinging, punching Thor squarely in the jaw and rocketing him out of the front of the building, following him quickly whilst the other two superheroes advanced on her.

 

She sidestepped the shield as Captain America's arm tensed, letting it harmlessly clatter off the side of the door. Then she ran forward into Hawkeye's personal space, ducking under the bow and letting him hit her in the ribs with his knee. It was the smart trade-off. The bow would have knocked her clean out. She could feel Captain America behind her and grinned, throwing her body weight back into him and bringing her legs up to wrap around the bow. She jerked it out of Hawkeye's grasp, twisting her body as best she could as she fell to slam the blunt end into Captain America's throat. He stumbled away, holding the bruised area as she fell gracelessly on her back.

 

Hawkeye was on top of her in seconds, and Marley flung the bow away as she rolled with him, nearly overbalancing him and sending him rolling into Captain America.

 

Unique came soaring back into the building, her face a bloody mess. Lightning gave off light. Unique was powered by light. For a moment, she was hopeful, before Unique collapsed to the ground uselessly.

 

The combat skills she had been holding onto vanished, and instead she started putting together a plan. If she could just get Thor away from the fight... She narrowed her eyes as Thor came storming back inside, turning her back on the two other heroes to run up and throw her arms around Thor, closing her eyes tight as Thor raised his hammer.

 

_"HEIMDALL, OPEN THE BIFROST!"_

 

The voice that left her throat wasn't her own. It was the result of a thousand audio clips, and a thousand scientists and theorists working on how to modulate your voice to mimic another voice. Even with all that knowledge though, she wasn't supposed to speak like that without training, and it felt like she was ripping the muscles apart. It was a perfect match to Thor's own voice though, and the ground started to shake. She threw herself backwards as a cascade of energy hit the spot she had been stood moments before and Thor vanished.

 

"Send in the secondary team!"

 

Marley glanced around at where people were streaming through the hole in the wall, but Captain America was already behind her, wrapping her up in a grip that she couldn't even begin to shake. Unique had finally stood up, using the metal cage of the elevator as a support, but was stood completely still, her mouth opened wide in complete confusion. The people who stormed in were wearing S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuits of one kind or another, and had strange tech all around them. She couldn't think though, as Captain America's choke hold faded her vision to black. She could vaguely make out one of them raised a gun and aimed it at Unique. The screech that cut through the air knocked Unique off her feet, but this time, Unique didn't get back up.

 

"Marley?" One of the figures asked, stepping out of the bright light, but before Marley could answer, Captain America pressed something into her neck that made her entire body relax and her mind go foggy.

 

But there was still an important question she needed to ask.

 

"Kurt?"

 

 

 


	9. Runaways 9

Jake knew they were on board a plane. He also knew that they weren't risking anything. The collar around his neck was annoying in general, but he knew its use was effective. It only activated if he started to shift his form, at which point it would deliver an electric shock sharp enough to leave him completely useless. But it never seemed to misfire. Which meant he was probably being watched.

 

That was worrying enough, but then he was forced to confront the fact that they had captured his whole team. He had seen them bringing Ryder into the cell opposite him, hooked up to a medicinal looking drip. They were probably keeping him completely unconscious to stop him from teleporting away. And Ryder was the hardest member of the team to pin down, if they had him then they probably had everyone. Marley would have to be kept unconscious, but had they worked out a way to damped Unique's powers? What about Kitty's?

 

Of course, that was nothing compared to the second thing he'd been hit with.

 

The second thing was the man sat opposite him.

 

Noah Puckerman.

 

Neither of them had spoken, but every day, his brother would come and sit with him for 20 minutes or so, just staring at him.

 

It was five days in, when he slid a folder across the table towards Jake. Jake had taken it, and opened it to reveal the fate of his five team mates. Ryder and Marley were in an induced coma, like he had expected, but Unique was too. Obviously they hadn't worked out the reason for her strength yet. Kitty's cell had a device that absorbed the energy of her blasts.

 

They were effectively neutered. And his brother was a part of the neutering.

 

"What happened to you, man?" Puck finally asked, two days later, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

 

Jake gaped for a few moments, trying to find the words to explain exactly what had happened to him over the past few months. How did you explain this? That they were genetically experimented on, and that mind control was involved on an unknown scale. That they were on the run from SHIELD, because SHIELD had done it, and they couldn't go home without tempting SHIELD to attack their families. That they were on a magic quest to shatter four cornerstones of something, to make the world a better place. That Kitty had been turned into something like them, by an insane scientist.

 

"Why don't you try asking your boss?" Jake huffed, folding his arms and staring his brother down across the table.

 

"What would Couldson know?" Puck asked, leaning forward.

 

Coulson. At least Jake had a name now. He was surprised that it wasn't Maria Hill or maybe the Black Widow. They had been the ones congress had called to talk about the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. according to Marley. They were supposed to be Fury's left and right hands.

 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. did this to us," Jake muttered, unfolding his arms and leaning forward on the table, "so, how long have you been an agent."

 

"I'm not. I'm just working with them on something." Puck shrugged, and stretched his arms up, folding them behind his head in an obvious attempt to appear casual. "I'm a Superhero, Jake! I save people. And S.H.I.E.L.D. are helping me do that. We stop supervillains."

 

"Like us?" Jake scoffed, and leaned back off the desk. Puck flinched, and shifted uncomfortably.

 

"You're not..." He tried to argue, but he'd lost his momentum. "Why did you fight the Avengers? Why did you attack that military base."

 

Jake snorted. It seemed like everyone was in the dark. "You've got no idea what's happening with us."

 

"You're right. We haven't fought anyone who goes what you five can do."

 

"Then S.H.I.E.L.D. killed the rest," Jake whispered, trying to ignore the sinking feeling stomach. S.H.I.E.L.D. sent the Avengers after them and Puck's team too. All their resources on one set of people? They were probably it. The last thread of evidence, ready to be accidentally killed and vanished.

 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't kill people," Puck insisted, sitting upright.

 

"Are you really that naive?" Jake sneered. "They're a spy organisation, 'Noah'. They've killed people, and they'll kill again."

 

The two sat silently after that, looking at the table.

 

"So, what've you been fighting?" Jake finally asked.

 

"Uh, Stilt-Man, Boomerang, Firebrand..."

 

"Did any of them have super powers?" Jake pushed, "Or are they all running around with equipment?"

 

"Equipment," Puck started, but before he could carry on talking the cell door opened and Kurt Hummel marched inside.

 

"Puck," He said sharply, "They need you in the hanger," Kurt looked pointedly at the door, and Jake watched his brother leave.

 

"Did he say too much?" Jake asked watching as Kurt leant against the wall.

 

"I'm asking the questions," Kurt's voice seemed to make the room's temperature drop a few degrees. "Why were you in Tony Stark's mansion?" Kurt asked, his hands stiff at his side.

 

"Sight-seeing," Jake said sarcastically, and Kurt rolled his eyes.

 

"You need to co-operate," Kurt said, pulling out a little device and looking up at a corner of the room. He glanced down as a light flickered on the device, and pressed a button until it turned green. "Jake, we can help you. Just talk to us, and we'll get you out of this trouble."

 

"You don't understand what trouble we're in," Jake shook his head dismissively.

 

"Then tell us." Kurt insisted, "I know you're not a bad guy. And S.H.I.E.L.D. can help!"

 

That snapped Jake out of it, and he forced his body language to be as empty as possible. "No."

 

"Jake," Kurt started again, "think about your brother..."

 

"Don't." Jake snapped, "Don't bring my brother into it."

 

"...Fine," Kurt said, pressing the button again. "Let's talk about what you were doing in New York the first time around."

 

* * *

 

 

Ryder winced as he woke up, his whole body aching. His last memory was of fighting the Avengers. It had taken Captain America and Hawkeye a good few minutes to knock him out, since he kept flashing around the room. In the end, it had been the last jump that left him completely drained and in the perfect position for Captain America's shield to crack him in the back of the head.

 

Since then, it had been a dark blur.

 

"Don't even think about trying to run."

 

He glanced around taking in his surroundings. A dark grey metallic box, with a bed, a toilet, with a table in the center of the room. Sat at the table was Quinn Fabray, a clipboard tightly in hand. He forced himself upright, feeling completely unbalanced. He remembered her from the big push to save the Glee Club. She'd ended up with Jake's brother, if he remembered right. "What's going on?" He asked, reaching up to rub the bruised area on the back of his skull.

 

"You've been caught. You have no idea where your friends are, and if you try and run for them, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be forced to flood their rooms with knockout gas. It's the most painless way of ensuring that you can't get them out. But I went to law school, and you'd be surprised how many lawsuits are filed because of accidents involving anesthesia."

 

"You're threatening them?" Ryder asked, his eyes going wide. She didn't answer, instead looking at her clipboard as though he wasn't even in the room. "What the hell! You're a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent?"

 

"And you're a murderer." Quinn said, looking up from the clipboard sharply, and unpinning a bunch of photoes. Ryder glanced over them, recognising the hotel they had been staying in. It was like Unique had described, with the wall blown away. But the next five or six were zoomed in on the street around the main building.

 

Rubble hitting passing cars. People in the building across the street. God, at least 20 people had died.

 

"I didn't... This is nothing to do with me." Ryder insisted, shoving the photos back. "You don't understand..."

 

"No. It was Kitty. You teleport, she has energy blasts." Quinn said, picking up the photos carefully and pinning them back in place. "So, do you want to explain why?"

 

"She was mindcontrolled by S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. And then one was chasing her and Marley, and she had to fight him off." Ryder snapped, looking around for the camera. There was always a camera. "Did you know that? That S.H.I.E.L.D. have been doing freaky experiments with this weird staff?"

 

"I'm not a part of experimentation." Quinn said calmly. "So, is this staff the thing that gave you your powers?"

 

"Maybe," Ryder frowned, "I want to see Jake. And Unique. And Marley and Kitty..."

 

"We can talk about that, after we talk about some other things." Quinn turned the page. "Can you tell us where you got your powers?"

 

"It was a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. The Army raided it, but by that point they'd burnt away everyone except us."

 

"Anything else that might help us narrow down which base?" Quinn asked, looking up.

 

"Uh... Unique said there was a second level where more experiments were kept. There was a big circular room, where all those floors looked down on. And the Abomination was there."

 

"As in the Gamma Radiation..." Quinn frowned, writing something down. "Okay, where did you go after that?"

 

"Back to McKinley. I jumped everyone there. That's where we met Kitty..."

 

"Wait, Kitty wasn't with you in the S.H.I.E.L.D. Facility?" Quinn asked sharply, narrowing her eyes.

 

"No. She was still at McKinley. But we were attacked by some kind of giant robot and I jumped all five of us to New York."

 

"This is the first time you fought the Avengers?"

 

"We were there a week first, living in this part of the sewers that were really clean. But after that week, we were attacked by this guy calling himself Sinister, and a bunch of rat creatures."

 

"Can you show us where it was?" Quinn waited for him to respond, and after a moment he nodded. She looked down at her clipboard and continued, "Who is Sinister?"

 

"I think he's a scientist?" Ryder frowned, trying to remember specifically what Sinister had said, "but... He got super powers, at the same time Kitty did. He's completely insane though..."

 

"Okay, let's put that to one side," she said, taking a quick note and moving on to the next question. "After New York, you went to..."

 

"San Francisco," Ryder opened his mouth to talk about it, and then paused. The next step to talk about was the egyptian man in the dream. But that was literally insane from an outside point of view. "That's all I'm going to say."

 

"You don't get to clam up," Quinn said lowering the clipboard sharply, "You're murderers."

 

"Maybe, but I've told the truth, and answered your questions. And, now I want to see my friends! I want to see..." He trailed off awkwardly. Which of his friends did he really need to see? Unique had been beaten up pretty bad, but maybe Marley could get them out. Jake would have a plan... And someone had to remember Kitty.

 

"No." Quinn shook her head, "I need you to lay down."

 

"No." Ryder snapped, "Why're you doing this?"

 

"Why're you?" Quinn shot back, standing up. Ryder got to his feet too. "S.H.I.E.L.D. could help you, and you could help S.H.I.E.L.D."

 

"What?"

 

"You have no idea what we're facing right now! People have been hurt! And if you're not with us, then you're against us."

 

"Then, I guess... I'm against you."

 

Quinn's eyes narrowed, and she stepped towards him before she caught herself and turned on her heels, walking out of the door. "Someday, you're going to regret saying that."

 

* * *

 

 

Marley woke up slowly, feeling exhausted. She didn't open her eyes or move, focusing on keeping his breathing as steady as ever. The bed underneath her was solid, and warm. It was obvious she'd been laid here a long time. Beyond that though, she'd have to move to find out anything else about her surroundings.

 

If she was still a normal human that was.

 

Her ability to see machines though was a great help. There was a camera in her room, and through it, she could see what she looked like. No obvious injuries but a medical looking drip was next to her with the needle lying on the bed next to her arm. Everything else was either cold steel, or menacing black. Somewhere on the other side of the camera were people watching her.

 

She was in a block of holding cells. Somewhere between here and there was something very interesting though. On a computer, someone was looking at secrets a hundred times more important than what had been put online. Names like "Kree" and "Latveria" and...

 

Wait.

 

'The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning.' Marley had heard that name before. Back in the tunnels beneath New York. It was where Sinister said that people like them lived. She slipped deeper into that file, looking for a location, and found it. She forced that information deep into her mind.

 

With that ready, she started to really, really focus down on fixing the situation. In the cell opposite her, Kitty was sleeping on her bed, with no sign of a IV. Instead, the walls of her cell were fitted to absorb energy. It was easy to shut off the mechanism, and she moved on.

 

Jake and Ryder were next. She stopped the machine that was supplying the drug to Ryder, and disconnected the collar at Jake's throat. Unique was in the last cell, and Marley threw on every light in the place at their full wattage as she stopped her drip.

 

As everyone started to realise what was going on, Marley moved on, locking every door on the plane except the personal cell doors.

 

Stepping out of her own door, she was hit by a physical wave of sound that knocked her off her feet. Down the corridor, four other people had climbed out of their rooms too. Tina Cohen Chang was lowering a strange gauntlet with a pink crystal in the middle, whilst Kurt Hummel attached two bulky metal bands with stiff fingers. Sam Evans looked clearly torn between being scared of her and wanting to help her, but Quinn Fabray's face was a mask of rage. All of them were in S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuits, and all of them were ready to fight.

 

Ryder appeared for less than half a second behind Tina, vanishing with her a moment later. Sam seemed to take that as a cue, and charged down the corridor towards her. She was obviously the biggest threat here, after all. If she wanted to, she could crash this plane into the sea. Jake was no slouch himself though, flinging his arm out and knocking Sam off his feet into the room Ryder had been in. Marley closed and locked the door with a thought, and seeing Kurt's bands light up with electricity, she shut them down too.

 

Quinn rushed forward at that point, just as Kitty stumbled out of the room she had been stuck in, and hit her with a bolt of energy. But rather than be thrown back, a shield appeared around her. Marley forced her powers forward looking for the thing that was causing the shield. Her mind touched something alien, and for a moment everything felt sickly, and wrong, and like it was collapsing around her. She pulled out as quickly as possible, collapsing against the door jam.

 

Quinn continued forwards and was almost right in front of Marley when Ryder popped inbetween them and vanished with Quinn too, leaving Kurt on his own.

 

"Get in the room," Jake said calmly as everyone stepped into the hallway.

 

Kurt looked ready to fight him, but then Unique stepped out and there was an obvious reassessment going on behind Kurt's eyes. He slowly raised his hands, and looked at Jake pointedly. "If you run, they're going to think you're guilty. You're not a bad person. You're just like Puck used to be. I mean... We can listen, we can talk about what's going on, and who did this."

 

"My brother didn't notice that I vanished for three months, and is part of the organisation that turned me into a mutant." Jake snapped, gesturing everyone down the hall. Marley looked to Ryder who lifted two fingers as secretly as he could. "And you guys think you're superheroes?"

 

"Unique?" Kurt said, turning to her. "You don't have to run away..."

 

"I have no idea what's going on," She said honestly, and with a sharp edge, "Maybe my memory has been damaged by S.H.I.E.L.D. sending a god of thunder to beat my face in with a hammer."

 

"Kitty? Marley?"

 

"No." Kitty said coldly, "I don't care if S.H.I.E.L.D. did this, or Hydra, or the freaking easter bunny! Somebody out there took us and made us into freaks. And instead of talking to me and helping me, you locked me in that room."

 

"Guys," Ryder said, pausing shortly to look at her. "Can they..."

 

Oh, trackers. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No. There's nothing in us."

 

"This is it then. One chance to stop." Kurt said, stepping forward as they all huddled together to touch each other.

 

"I hope we never meet again," Jake snapped, "Because if you try and bring us in again, we won't be so kind. And tell my brother that I won't pull my punches."

 

And with that they vanished from the jet.

 

 

 


	10. Runaways 10

 

Jake woke up slowly, his eyes heavy with sleep. His back was pressed up against a warm body. Looking around, it became obvious that he was in a bed. The covers had been pulled up to his neck and there was an arm slung over his waist. The body was rising and slowly and evenly against him, obviously asleep too.

 

He slowly twisted his body out of the grip, slipping all the way to the floor almost liquified. He pulled himself back together, and he turned to see who had been in the bed with him. He grinned a little as Ryder rolled into the spot Jake had just been in, and let out a content grumble. That didn't explain where they were though. The last thing he remembered, they had just teleported away from the helicarrier and appeared in New York. Marley told Ryder where to jump next, but something exploded nearby and Ryder had tackled them all and then...

 

Nothing.

 

That jerked Jake back to reality, and he frowned, looking around for the others. No-one was around, and Jake had no idea where he could be. The bedroom was nice. A big TV on one wall, a computer on the table, lots of posters. It was like a rich teenagers room. That didn't exactly scream danger. He moved over to the window, and looked out across a massive lawn. It could have been beautiful, but instead it just looked like somebody had left it to get overgrown. There was a gravel road leading all the way down to a large metal fence, with a rusted metal gate. Jake was already trying to come up with some kind of a plan. He could carry Ryder out of the building maybe...

 

Before the plan formed any further, there was a soft knocking on the door. Jake turned on the balls of his feet, ducking low and getting ready to spring out of the door into their captor.

 

"Are... are you okay?" a soft voice asked from behind it, "Hank said you'd woken up, and Professor Xavier asked me to check on you." Jake waited for a moment to see if whoever it was would leave. When they knocked again, he moved to the door and pulled it open slowly. The guy on the other side looked surprised to see him stood up, but smiled brightly offering a hand. "Scott Summers."

 

"Jake Puckerman," Jake said taking it slowly and looking over him. The most obvious thing was the strange red glasses he was wearing, that made it impossible to see where he was looking. But other than that, he was wearing a nice polo shirt, and a pair of jeans, and nice shoes. Jack would peg him as a normal rich douchebag, but the boy seemed awkward and nervous though, shuffling his feet a little. "Where are we?"

 

"Westchester. This is Professor Xavier's house..." Scott said slowly, leaning into the room a little, "Do you want to come meet everyone? I mean... none of your friends have woke up yet, but the rest of us are downstairs. Hank says that's because of the way you got here... he can explain it better."

 

Jake pulled his hand away, and nodded, following the boy out into the hallway, "We were trying to get to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning."

 

"It's been a while since it was called that." Scott said, with a sad smile, "But I guess you reached it."

 

"We're... supposed to find people like us there." Jake said, as they started to walk down a hallway. There were doors everywhere, but they looked to be closed tight.

 

"Maybe. Are you...special?" Scott asked, looking Jake over as though he was waiting for him to sprout fur or something.

 

"Yeah," Jake said, stretching his hand out to three times it's normal size. "You?"

 

"Uh, yeah," Scott scratched the back of his neck, "but I can't show mine off. It's a bit destructive."

 

Jake nodded as they came to a set of stairs, that they followed down into a huge hall. A large chandalier hung over the stairs, and Jake stared at it as they climbed down the staircase. If Scott saw his interest, he didn't mention anything. Instead, he seemed focused on stepping down the stairs, holding onto the glasses on his face like they would fall off any minute. "Do you need some help?"

 

"I'm fine. I just need to make sure that..." Scott gestured to his glasses as though Jake would know what that meant. "Bobby!"

 

"Coming!" A voice called from across the entrance hall, and Jake was treated to an amazing sight of some kind of ice sculpture streaking out from another room on an ice slide. But before the image could form perfectly, the sculpture flinched making eye contact with Jake. The ice started to vanish, sending the strange mix of rapidly dissapearing ice and flesh sliding along the ground, leaving behind a boy in a t-shirt and jeans.

 

Scott started to rush down the stairs, and helped the boy to sit up. He was nursing his arm, but then it seemed to turn into ice and back again and he let it drop. "What have you been told about skating around here like that?"

 

"What've you been told about keeping your goggles on?" the kid shot back, his mouth twisting downwards. "We're freaks, Scott. Might as well embrace it."

 

Jake coughed awkwardly, and the kid turned to look at him jumping on the spot. His hands frosted over, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees instantly. Scott shivered, and Jake didn't feel anything at first, until he looked down and saw the skin on his arms starting to crack.

 

"Bobby!" Scott snapped, and the boy's hands turned back to normal. Jake started rubbing at the skin on his arms. It was brittle, like rubber dropped in liquid nitrogen. Maybe the cold had affected him more than usual, just like electricity seemed to. Scott moved to Jake's side, pulling Jake's hands away from his arm and looking at the skin, before looking back to Jake. "Come on. Guess you'll be meeting Hank a lot earlier than we expected."

 

"I didn't mean to do it!" Bobby insisted. "I just made it cold! That isn't even like... Frostbite level!"

 

"So what?" Scott muttered, gently leading Jake over to a grandfather clock. "You don't use your powers on people!"

 

"I use them on Eric. And Marko."

 

Jake watched as Scott pulled aside a small panel on the decoration and press his finger into it. There was a beep, and then that part of the wall moved aside revealing solid metal doors that seemed completely seamless. Jake watched in wonder as they stepped into a large elevator, big enough to fit 20 or so people cramped in, that looked like it was made completely out of one block of metal. There was a soft hum as the doors closed and then they started to descend.

 

* * *

 

 

Jake wasn't 100% sure that he was still awake. Especially since there was a man with huge hands and feet. He was almost gorilla like, especially as he hung from a pipe on the ceiling holding a tablet tapping away. Jake shook his head violently, holding his arm tight to his chest. The gorilla man glanced over as they came in and frowned, dropping gracefully to the ground. "Who broke what." He asked, his voice a mask of weariness as Scott dragged Jake to sit on a medical table.

 

"This is Jake. He's like us," Scott started, before gesturing to Jake's arm. "He had a weird reaction to Bobby's powers."

 

"I only lowered the temperature a little bit!" Bobby insisted, "And I didn't mean to!"

 

"Let me see," the man said, moving to Jake's side and taking his arm. "My name is Dr. Hank McCoy. What's yours."

 

"Jake," Jake answered curtly, as the man efficiently checked his arm. "Scott already told you." The entire hospital lab set up was making him uncomfortable, and he knew that Hank was trying to distract him.

 

"No last name?" Hank asked, with a quick smile. Jake shrugged, and he carried on, "Okay, Just Jake. Scott says you're one of our very small brotherhood. Can I ask about your particular abilities?"

 

"I stretch. And I usually heal very fast." Jake demonstrated with legs, stretching them down to touch the ground. He would have done the hand trick, but his arms were like... ice. It hurt to move them normally, and he had a sinking feeling that trying to use his powers with it like this wouldn't end well.

 

"Ahh," Hank said, pursing his lips. "Yes, I can see how Bobby's powers might affect that. The only suggestion I can think of is to warm you up. Give me a moment..." The man moved to a small cabinet and pulled out a bunch of fabric and wrapped it around Jake's shoulders before pressing a corner of it. Almost immediately, Jake felt his body start to warm up, and the parts of his body that weren't frozen started to droop.

 

"Sorry," Bobby grumbled shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I didn't mean to do it."

 

"It's fine. We've done things like that." Jake forced himself to smile, and try to ignore the fact that Bobby hurt him. He and Ryder had killed S.H.I.E.L.D. to protect Marley after all. It was hard to blame him for an accident. He pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders, and turned around to Hank again. "Where's everyone else?"

 

"Your friends were all affected by the trip you made," Hank gestured to his wall of moniters which showed three rooms. "Two of the ladies are just exhausted, much as you were. Their accelerated healing dealt with any injuries within hours." he pointed to Marley and Kitty which were laid in a bed in one room. "The other two... Seem to have been affected more violently by their interaction with our defences." He gestured to Ryder and Unique.

 

"What kind of defences?" Jake asked, frowning. Ryder didn't look too hurt but there could still be internal injuries.

 

"Our shield mostly," Hank turned on his heels and started to walk towards a heavy looking door. Jake watched as he tapped quick code into a keypad, and the metal hissed up into the ceiling.

 

"Whoa." Jake muttered, following Hank into the room. The room was almost twice the size of the old choir room, but it was almost entirely filled by a metallic sphere that hummed with energy.

 

"Whoa indeed," Hank said with a grin as he moved to run a hand over the metal. "This was a parting gift from an old friend with abilities like ours. It protects us from intruders, and does a remarkable job of keeping us hidden."

 

"You had other mutant friends? I thought we were the only mutants," Jake admitted after a moment, leaning back against the wall behind him.

 

"Very nearly, The number of factors required to create a mutant randomly is astronomical." Hank turned to look at him with a grim face, "And the number of people with useful or even mutations they can survive are even less."

 

Jake had to stand still for a moment and absorb what Hank was implying. So far they had only run into four mutants and themselves. And at first, he had been on the edge of death. Had SHIELD unintentionally kept him alive?

 

"So who made it? Who was he?" Jake asked, gesturing to the sphere, turning away from Hank to look at the walls around the room. He didn't want to think about what SHIELD had done to him as a positive thing.

 

"A man who called himself Forge. He had the remarkable ability to create any machine he could imagine. He was murdered soon after finishing it."

 

That got Jake's attention, and he turned back to Hank. "By who?"

 

"A dear friend." Another voice cut in, from the door. Jake turned to find an old man in a wheelchair watching them. "I apologise profusely for being unable to greet you when you awaked. I am not as mobile as I would wish."

 

"This is Charles Xavier," Hank said moving back around the machine and stood next to the man.

 

"It's his house," Scott added from the other room.

 

"School, Mr. Summers. Though you number only five, you are still my students." Professor Xavier chided lightly, never breaking eye contact with Jake. "What about your name, young man?"

 

"Jake."

 

Professor Xavier nodded slowly, holding out his hand for Jake to shake. Jake moved slowly around the machine and took the hand slowly. "You came looking for us?"

 

"No. Well, kind of." Jake tilted his head, "There was this man, Sinister? He knew about your school, and said that there were more people like us here."

 

"A very troubled young man," The Professor nodded, "He claimed he could cause mutations, but was unable to prove so ethically."

 

"He could do it, but it definitely wasn't ethical" Jake shuddered, "He made a machine using human brains..."

 

"Ah," Professor Xavier nodded slowly, "That was always his main idea, that I refused to entertain. Is that how you all came to possess your..." The Professor paused, his face going slack as he scrabled for a bag on the back of his chair. Scott got there first, and scatch out a large bulky helmet and placed it on the Professor Xaviers head. The metal covered every inch of his face and the man went limp.

 

"What was that?" Jake asked in a poanic as they wheeled the Professor into the other room and moved him to a bed.

 

"A personal Cerebro unit. Forge's first invention, and the only reason that the Professor and Jean remain with us." Hank said, attaching leads to the Professor's body.

 

"It stops the pasrts of the brain that cause telepathy, with these little radio waves," Scott explained, "If they wear it, or stay in the Cerebro Chamber six hours a day, they can lead almost normal lives."

 

"Unless there's a major psychic event. Then they have to wear it until the event subsides." Hank muttered under his breath, as the machines started to beep.

 

"What kind of event?"

 

"Another mutant being born, and dying." Scott said softly, shaking his head. "Let's... Talk about something else."

 

"Okay. What's wrong with Ryder?"

 

"He hit the shield at a very high speed. You all should have been destroyed on contact, but you all mostly managed to pass through. He took the worst of the damage. A few broken bones that healed very quickly, and his heart stopped. But he should recover very quickly from the exhaustion. The rest of you healed over the hours you were asleep. The only one who didn't is..."

 

"Unique." Jake asked, finding her on the moniters. She looked like she had been bruised from head to foot.

 

"Whatever healing ability you all seem to have doesn't seem to be working for her."

 

"We think she exhausted it somehow," Hank added, joining them by the monitor.

 

"Well, it could have been the god of thunder hitting her in the face. Or all the tranquilisers S.H.I.E.L.D were pumping into her," Jake muttered, carefully gauging their reactions.

 

"I suppose you mean Thor. You think he's really a god?" Hank asked, frowning. "We had hoped he was perhaps another mutant."

 

"If he is, he doesn't think he is." Jake shrugged, and turned around. "I want to see my friends now."

 

"Bobby can show you to them." Scott suggested, gesturing to where the younger boy was sat on a bed kicking his feet awkwardly.

 

* * *

 

 

Kitty jerked upright, the minute somebody knocked on the door. Her first reaction was to lift up her hands and try to send a blast in that direction, but she couldn't even draw up the energy for a single burst. The room almost made her want to vomit. It looked like some insane teenage girls room, with posters of boys on the walls, and a desk for studying. Clothes were littered over almost every surface, and the bed was covered in frills. Like an 80's movie had designed the perfect bedroom for a female protagonist.

 

Kitty made a gagging motion and slipped out of the bed, glancing over her shoulder at a familiar body on the other side of the huge bed. Marley's hair was a mess, and the minute that Kitty had moved out of the bed, Marley was stretching out into the space messily.

 

"Kitty?" Jake's voice came from the other side of the door, and Kitty quickly rushed to the door, pulling it open so quickly that Jake almost fell into the room.

 

She could have hugged him in that moment. He looked up from where he had stumbled in, and smiled, and in that moment she almost trusted him completely, but the warning of her future self blarred at the back of her head. Instead she nodded sharply, and looked over his shoulder at the kid who was watching her with wide eyes. "Can I help you?"

 

"Uh... No." The boy looked down awkwardly, kicking his feet.

 

"How are you feeling?" Jake asked, looking her over slowly.

 

"Exhausted," she let out a breath. "Did we make it?"

 

"Yeah. We made it." Jake grinned, "This is Bobby. He's like us."

 

Kitty snorted looking 'Bobby' over. He was tiny and scrawny. She doubted this kid was 'like them'. He might have super powers but he hadn't been turned into a living weapon. "Okay then," She smiled with forced brightness. "Marley!"

 

The girl in the bed jerked upright, her hair a mess as she looked around frantically. "What's..." Her eyes fell on Jake and Kitty and she smiled brightly, looking truely innocent again for the first time since they had escaped. "We made it? We're here?"

 

"Welcome to the Xavier's Institute," Jake nodded, and then looked at them both slowly. "We've just got one more problem to deal with. Unique isn't healing from hitting the shield."

 

"Oh." Marley's smile slipped away, and she narrowed her eyes, "Let me just..."

 

Kitty watched as Marley zoned out, her eyes twitching frantically for a few moments, before she took a deep breath and pulled out of whatever part of the internet she'd gone into.

 

"You have a machine?" She asked Bobby, as she got out of bed and started to move towards the door.

 

"Yeah, the shield?"

 

"We need to take Unique outside of it." Marley said calmly, as she walked confidently through the building. Kitty felt herself rushing to keep up with the other girl. Marley walked straight up to a bedroom door and opened it without pausing.

 

Kitty paused in the doorway, looking at the bruised and beated body of her friend, and held a hand up to her mouth for a second. Marley didn't seem phased by it, pulling the girl upright and trying to lift her. "Are one of you going to help me?"

 

"I can!" Bobby said quickly, and Kitty turned to tell him not to when Bobby suddenly changed.

 

It was like frost crept over his body, and then cleared away to reveal that there was only more ice underneath. And then he bulked up considerable, walking forward to the otherside of the bed and lifting up Unique on his own.

 

"Wow."

 

Jake looked at her and grinned, "So, that's what it takes to impress you?"

 

"I'm pretty impressive." Bobby's voice came from the ice golem as he carried Unique through the doorway and out into the hallway. "Professor Xavier said I'm one of the two strongest mutant that we know about on earth."

 

"That's a lot of pressure," Kitty said, hoping that she sounded nice about it. Instead, she was trying not to pay attention to the part of her mind that was working out how they could beat him. Surely she and Unique could smash him into ice-cubes.

 

"Not usually." Bobby shrugged, "until the other one shows up."

 

"We need to take Unique onto the front lawn," Marley said calmly. Bobby nodded and walked them out into the mainhall and then through the main doors that opened without him touching them, but were left with two handprints of ice.

 

"Over there would be perfect," Marley gestured to a spot on the overgrown grass. Bobby put Unique down gently, and turned around to see what Marley would ask next. "We all need to move away from this spot."

 

Kitty took a few steps back as Marley closed her eyes and a faint hum filled the air. Bobby looked up at the sky, and Kitty found herself following his eyeline to where a patch of the strangely perfect sky seemed to split a little. The more natural sky above seemed at odds with the sky around it, and a few feet to the side of it, Unique's body seemed to suddenly become full of life, as the bruising vanished, and her eyes started to open slowly. She looked over at them, and smiled.

 

Kitty smiled back.

 

They were fine.

 

* * *

 

 

They waited until Ryder woke up before they discussed what came next. Marley watched the corridor with her powers and made sure nobody was listening in. Then they all spoke about everything. The most important question being; should they stay. It was unanimous. This was exactly what they had been promised. More people like them. More mutants. They could stay here, safe from S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra, or whatever they wanted to call themselves.

 

"So what do we do about the guy from the dream?" Kitty was the one who asked as she fiddled with her fingers. "We only have one cornerstone left, don't we?"

 

"Is it really our decision?" Marley asked, looking at them all. "I mean, there are another six mutants here now. Don't they have a right to know about it and make the decision with us."

 

"Won't they definitely want to break it?" Ryder pointed out, "I mean, more mutants have to be good."

 

"I don't know. They said that some mutants don't survive their powers." Jake shrugged, "And it doesn't seem like a great life for the Professor."

 

"Maybe breaking this last cornerstone would fix that?" Kitty suggested, "But we all need to agree what to do."

 

"I say we tell them. It's their choice too." Unique said, flicking her hair out of her face with her fingers.

 

"I think we tell them too." Marley said quietly. "Guys... You don't understand. We've found other people like us. We're not alone anymore. We're not fighting SHIELD or Hydra alone. And It isn't up to us to make every decison."

 

That seemed to strike a chord with everyone, and they all finally agreed to tell the Professor.

 

The Professor arrived shortly after, helped by Scott. Marley warned them all of his arrival a few minute before he knocked on their door. They let him in, and explained their story from start to finish. The man listened carefully, his face never betraying any emotions as they spoke.

 

And when they were done, he began to speak.

 

"When I was a young man, my power activated in the middle of a dinner party. When the destruction was counted, there were four people dead of sudden aneurisms. And then there were those who were changed. My step brother, my best friend, a business partner of my fathers? All woke up with super powers."

 

"I did not. For thirty years I was left in a coma. My step-father did not believe in pulling the plug. But my mind was free. I found myself in a strange world much like the one you described in your dream, chased by a huge dragon, that would devour teenagers who would randomly appear and grow more powerful from them. I managed to run and hide, until time and fate coincided to bring Forge to my bedside."

 

"He had been turned into a mutant long ago, and he wanted to build something to help. He built a helmet. When they placed it on my head, it was a last resort. It closed off my powers, and I found myself back in my own body. Ten years later, I slipped up for the first time, and these teenagers are the result. Forge brought me back from the brink again."

 

The professor paused, glancing at them all. "I know it pales in comparison to what you went through, but I have seen a lot of terrible things happen with mutant kind. I've seen people try and sell us out, and mutant kill mutant. I can't make this decision for you. And I wouldn't ask these children to make that decision either. We have to stand united, and a decision of this magnitude can only bring division. I will pay for this cornerstone to be brought to the mansion though, and from there you can decide what to do with it."

 

And with that he left the room.

 

 

 


	11. Runaways 11

 

Jake woke up to the smell of bacon cooking. But for a moment, his mind couldn't distinguish what exactly it was, just burning meat. His eyes shot open, and he jerked upright, ready to attack. The previous day hit him suddenly, and he glanced around the bedroom he had fallen asleep in in wonder. There was a low murmuring beneath him, from the kitchen. Because his room was above the kitchen. He had slept in an actual bedroom, that didn't double as the front room or something..

 

And nothing had exploded. Nobody had woken up screaming, or thought they had been followed home. Even in San Francisco they had to be on guard, and were all squashed into a tiny room. But he had slept in a bedroom, and downstairs someone was cooking bacon.

 

He let himself stretch out in the bed, staring at the roof above him as he just enjoyed the moment. He almost missed the knock on the door. The second one was harder to miss though and he sat upright, flinging his arm across the room to open it and reveal a boy with white wings standing there awkwardly. "Hi."

 

"Hi?" Jake asked more than said, tilting his head. "I'm sorry, I don't think we met yesterday?"

 

"Oh! No. I'm Warren Worthington. The Third." Warren shifted from foot to foot. "Uh, I was supposed to bring you some of Scott's clothes."

 

"Oh! Thanks," Jake said getting out of bed. He'd kept his jeans on, for modesties sake at least. It'd be nice to get out of them into some clean clothes. "just throw it anywhere."

 

Warren nodded, and putting the clothes on a set of drawers. Jake watched for a few moments, marvelling at the wings. They were pure white, and they would twitch as Warren moved his arms.

 

"Uh, breakfast is downstairs. Do you want me to wait for you?" Warren asked, turning back to Jake and folding his arms awkwardly.

 

"I can find my own way." Jake said calmly, smiling at the blonde boy. "Thank you."

 

"No problem. I'll see you later."

 

Jake waited for the boy to close the doors before he moved to the clothes. It was a simple button up shirt and jeans, but they were clean and close enough to his size. He quickly got changed, pulling everything on and looking at himself in a dusty floor length mirror. He looked okay, kind of like one of those Dalton boys, but okay. He walked slowly through the corridor towards the main hall, aware of how quiet the building was. Now he was in the main hallway, he couldn't hear the chattering from the kitchen. He stood there silently, trying to work out which way he should go.

 

As if on a cue, a red headed girl came running down the stairs, and past him. She was pulling a jacket on as she rushed past him, and barely seemed to notice him as she opened a door and let out a bunch of noise. She glanced over her shoulder, holding the door open. "Are you coming?" She asked pointedly, and Jake followed her into the room. The kitchen was huge. The middle of it was filled with a huge wooden table, surrounded by chairs. And it was full of people. Ryder was the only one of their group who had found there way down. He was sat at the table shoveling food onto his plate, whilst holding a discussion with Bobby.

 

Jake paused in the doorway, sizing up the other people in the room as a whole. Bobby was the shortest and youngest in the room. He was wearing a t-shirt with a cartoony image on the front, and a pair of jeans. His brown hair was gelled up into spikes, and he was gesturing earnestly at Ryder. But he was still the biggest known threat in the room.

 

The redhead had sat next to Scott and had slid her hand into his. At a guess this was the Jean that people had mentioned the day before. That put her very low on a list of threats, probably just above the Professor.

 

Warren was nowhere to be seen, but from what Jake had seen, he could be a threat. The angelic looks, blonde hair and blue eyes, didn't detract from the obvious mutation of wings. If he could fly then he could cause the same problem that the Falcon had for Kitty, and the rest of them would have a hell of a time reaching him.

 

Hank was cooking. Jake had seen him lift the Professor easily, and spring around the room despite his large stature. Obviously some degree of enhanced strength and speed. But Kitty, or Unique would be able to take him down easily.

 

And Scott... Scott was an unknown. He had the glasses from before on still. Maybe some kind of hynotic eyes?

 

"Hey."

 

Ryder's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he turnedc to look at his friend as Ryder gestured to a seat next to him. Jake moved to it thankfully, and sat down slowly.

 

"You sleep okay?"

 

"Yeah," Jake said with a smile, "Pretty good."

 

"Awesome," Ryder said before he reached for more bacon from one of the bigger plates in the center of the table. "So nwhat are we doing today?"

 

"You'll probably be coming to class with us." Bobby commented, reaching for the plate too and taking just as much bacon as Ryder as though they were in some kind of insane competition. "Hank teaches us all science and math, and the professor teaches english."

 

"I thought we'd run away from school," Ryder grumbled good naturedly. Bobby grinned back at him, and Ryder turned to look at Jake. "Should somebody wake the girls?"

 

"Depends what kind of mood you want them in." Jake rolled his eyes, and glanced across the table to where Scott was drinking coffee with his free hand. "What time do classes start?"

 

"10 AM," Scott lowered the cup, "You can probably leave them asleep for another half an hour or so. Jean?"

 

"I'll go after class," The redhead rolled her eyes and let go of Scott's hand. "Cerebro will still be there."

 

"I just worry," Scott tried to argue, and the girl leaned in to peck him on the cheek.

 

"Stop. It's annoying." She said sweetly, before snatching a piece of toast off his plate. "We should be completely fine, guys."

 

Jake felt Ryder tense at his side, and he felt his world expand as he listened for it. The tell tale crash, or explosion, or... But it didn't come. Hank started to talk to Bobby about something they had learnt the day before, whilst Jean and Scott made doe eyes. Jake let his body untense slowly, and reached across to run the back of Ryder's hand softly. "It's cool."

 

Ryder glanced back at him, and then at the hand, before he let out a soft but long breath. "It's cool."

 

* * *

 

 

Marley woke up late for breakfast, but Hank made more without comment. Still, she only picked at the food, and ended up passing most of the rest off to Kitty who hadn't made any human noises this morning.

 

"Miss Rose?" The Professor called as they all headed towards a classroom. "A word, if you wouldn't mind."

 

Jake had been walking next to her, his hand in hers almost without thought. But she gently let go and moved away from the group. Jake had paused and she'd shook her head and gestured for him to carry on without him.

 

"Follow me."

 

The trip had been short, straight into his private office.

 

"This room is also affected by Cerebro, so in an emergency we don't have as far to go," The Professor explained, moving over to a bookcase and clicking something that caused it to retract.

 

"Jake said that using the helmet had knocked you unconscious straight away," Marley asked, as they stepped onto another secret elevator that quickly descended into the ground.

 

"The helmet is a panicked solution. Unfortunately, Forge's ability allowed him to create a prototype, but left him unable to directly upgrade it. Instead, he and Erik built this chamber."

 

Marley gaped as the finally stopped going through the metal shaft, and finally opened up into a huge half sphere metal room. Everything seemed to be made of a single piece of metal, except for a bookcase and a small desk with pieces of paper cluttering it.

 

"This is amazing," she said softly, as their metal platform finally came to a stop on the ground and the professor wheeled himself into the chamber. "How deep are we?"

 

"Deep enough that it would be very difficult to uncover this place." The Professor said, wheeling into the center of the room, and gestured her over. "But that isn't why I called you down here. Press this panel?"

 

Marley moved to do as he had asked, pressing her hand into a faintly etched square. The panel lifted up easily, revealing a small helmet attached to a bunch of wires. "What is this?"

 

"We have no idea. Forge was working on it just before he decided to leave. Hank's method of uncovering the truth might render an essential part of Cerebro inactive, but I've been told you have the ability to understand machines and control them with your mind?"

 

"Kind of. You want me to...?"

 

"If you would be so kind."

 

Marley closed her eyes and sat down slowly, trying to find her way inside the machine.

 

And then it hit her.

 

At first it was just the technology in the room, and then the mansion itself. Then the entire New York Power grid and everything plugged into it. She'd never touched so much at once, but it didn't even feel like this was straining her. America. The World. The Satelites around the earth...

 

But that wasn't it. It was how the machine affected her powers, but the machine itself.

 

_"I haven't been this bored since Glee Club."_

 

_"That new girl was cute, I wonder if she's with..."_

 

_"Urgh, why didn't you just go to Cerebro this morning. You can feel that migraine coming."_

 

Marley yanked her hands away, and threw herself out of the machine as much as she physically could, looking around wildly.

 

"Miss Rose?" The Professor asked, looking at her in concern. "What did you find?"

 

"It's... It enhances powers. I accidentally looked at too much at once." She lied quickly, her mind flashing over what it had actually done. She could use her powers to look through cameras and listen through microphones. But those voices had been straight into her mind.

 

"A worrying phenomena I'm sure." The Professor said softly, looking at the machine. "How far could you see?"

 

"I was in every computer on earth at once." Marley said softly, looking at the helmet. "I don't understand though. It was probably meant for you or Jean. Why would he build it?"

 

"Forge was sometimes unable to stop himself from making things once the idea came into his mind." The Professor explained obviously picking his words carefully. "This explains a lot about why he made the choices he ultimately did."

 

"The choice that lead to him being killed?" Marley asked, frowning. "Jake said..."

 

"My best friend, a brilliant man by the name of Erik Lensherr, was a believer that one had to be strong to survive." The Professor sighed, "he cut down Forge as he attempted to run away from the mansion. An act I didn't agree with on any level, and the reason he was forced to leave."

 

"And Forge was running because?"

 

The Professor shook his head looking at her. "Miss. Rose. You could look at every machine. If we found a telepath who doesn't die when there powers manifest? They could access every mind on earth. Forge was scared of us. And... Perhaps, for good reason."

 

* * *

 

 

Unique was more relaxed than she had been in months.

 

It certainly didn't hurt that there was a cute guy talking to her.

 

Warren Worthington the Third. Blonde shoulder length hair, the brightest blue eyes she had ever seen. And a body that looked as though it had been sculpted by god.

 

Right now, they were sat on the front lawn, staring up at the sky as Warren talked about how his parents had reacted when his powers had shown up. Unique was listening with rapt attention, as he offered her his wings to touch. She gently ran her fingers over the white feathers, and he smiled at her.

 

"So, that's me." He said, folding his wings back in. "Plus a few million dollars in trust funds and in the stock market, I guess. What about you?"

 

"There isn't much to tell," Unique shrugged, looking back at the sky, "we're here now."

 

"What was it like before this?" Warren asked, turning on to his side and looking at her expectantly. "I mean, a pretty girl like you has to have some interesting stories."

 

"Well, we were in a Glee Club. We didn't win anything, but it was an amazing experience." Unique said softly, "but I don't have any interesting stories about meeting senators..."

 

"Senators are boring." Warren waved a hand dismissively. "You're telling me that you never had an adventure before you became a mutant?"

 

"I didn't say that. Glee Club was a crazy place to exist." Unique grinned, "What about you? Do you sing?"

 

"Not in a long time." Warren shrugged, "But I'd say I'm the best here. If Bobby and Scott could hit a single note, I'd be surprised."

 

"We had a friend like that. Sugar. But she was..." Unique paused picking her words carefully, "Actually, she wasn't around much."

 

"Normal people usually aren't," Warren scoffed, looking over his shoulder, "I mean, the only reason we're all here is because..."

 

"Because we're mutants."

 

They both paused, and then Warren grinned, and stood up. He offered her a hand up, as he continued. "We've got some ice-cream in the freezer, come on. You can give me the gossip on the rest of the team whilst we eat it."

 

Unique took the hand, and stood up.

 

This was definitely her favourite place so far.

 

* * *

 

 

"So, this'll be your room from now on," Scott explained as they walked down the hallway. Jake stayed a step behind the boy to give himself chance to look over the hallway. He was clocking escape routes, things he could use as a improvised weapon... "What do you think?"

 

Jake turned his attention back to the room, and paused, his eyes going wide. The room was at least twice as big as the room he had slept in last night, and was spotlessly clean. Solid oak panels covered the lower half of the walls, and the top half was painted a cream color. As he stepped inside, he quickly noticed the huge wardrobe on one side, and desk with a laptop on the otherside. The bed was another huge four poster bed, perfectly made, and beyond that, a huge set of windows that looked to open outwards. There was plush carpets and a rug...

 

Without even consciously thinking about it, he moved to the wardrobe and opened it. Inside were clothes...

 

"Jean bought it all whilst she was in Cerebro," Scott explained, as Jake started pulling stuff out. "You can always get some other stuff if it isn't..."

 

"It's amazing." Jake said softly, putting it all back and turning back to Scott. "I don't understand..."

 

"These rooms weren't exactly cleaned up when you got here. They were going to be the rooms for the teachers when this was going to be a school." Scott shrugged, looking around, "I mean... It's better than letting it go to waste."

 

"Yeah." Jake nodded, moving to the window and looking out of it for a second at the amazing view of the lawn.

 

"I'll leave you to get settled in." Scott said quietly. "I'll leave this here... It's a mini map to show you where everyone else is."

 

"Thanks"

 

* * *

 

 

_"You rest, whilst the balance remains undone."_

 

_Ryder jerked upright, looking around. He had been in bed, asleep. And now, he was in a purple and black landscape, surrounded by a faint buzzing. "Hello?"_

 

_"The other three destroyed their totems, only yours remains. Why do you refuse to do as you are told?!"_

 

_The voice raised in volume, and Ryder winced, curling in on himself. "I don't understand."_

 

_"Everything remains unbalanced because you haven't destroyed the final item."_

 

_"The Tablet?" Ryder glanced around, "We're trying to decide what to do! There are other mutants in the world. Maybe we don't have to..."_

 

_"Follow the will of En Sabah Nur!"_

 

_The humming reached critical mass, and suddenly, everyone else was with him. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were seeing the same thing he was._

 

_The old man was gone. In his place was a huge man in mechanical armor than moved like liquid. His skin was deathly pale, but marked with blue. At first glance they looked like tatoos, but as he turned, you could see the way they twisted against the skin. It was the same material as the armor._

 

_"You have failed at the tasks I have set you. Tasks that would have allowed us to wipe those who oppose us from the universe. Even now, the Mad Titan uses his almighty powers to hold back the reality storm. You had the gem of the mind within your grasp and you threw it away like trash." The man snapped, gesturing at them as a group. "The cornerstone must be destroyed, and as members of my bloodline, you must be the ones who do it!"_

 

_"No." Jake snapped, and Ryder felt them all step forward. "I don't know who you are, but we have a chance to be happy here! We can live in peace. Without S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra, or... Anyone, trying to destroy us!"_

 

_"You think you are my only agents in this world?" The man snarled. "You have been warned..."_

 

_"Why do you need the cornerstones destroyed anyway? A reality storm sounds like a bad thing." Kitty snapped, and they took another step forward._

 

_"In the days of old, six creatures of evil used the Gems of Infinity to seperate out reality into more easily controllable pieces." The man said, shrinking down. "Then each took a gem. They turned on each other over the course of millenia, and finally, the Mad Titan created the cornerstones to seal them away holding the universe together. Then he remolded the Gems of Infinity and spread them among the stars to allow for sport."_

 

_"And you want us to undo that?" Unique asked._

 

_Marley continued, "What'll happen to us?"_

 

_"We will all be released, and I will guide the reality to a world where our strength is the measure of our worth."_

 

_"No." Ryder said taking the final step forward. And as a whole, they finally agreed on what to do. "We refuse."_

 

 

 


	12. Runaways 12

 

"So, we'll keep the tablet safe here." Hank explained, as he finally finished slipping the huge stone under the metal dome of the shield generator. "Safest place we can imagine."

 

"Good," Ryder shuddered. He had woken up after their group nightmare, with a headache that he couldn't shake and the feeling of something crawling beneath his skin. Even now, almost a week later, he felt like there was something disgusting on his tounge. "It's the last thing keeping reality in one piece."

 

"I would have once told you that that is ridiculous," Hank said, with a wry grin, "but then my hands grew three sizes, and I saw a man turn to ice."

 

Ryder tried to smile, and failed. "I'll see you later."

 

He didn't wait for Hank to answer before he flashed out of the shield generator room and reappeared in Jake's room where the others were looking at a computer.

 

They had told the Professor immediately, expecting to be thrown out before nightfall. But the man had sat and listened to them, before offering his advice.

 

"It sounds to me that you are currently without any concrete knowledge of what is happening. Perhaps that is a place to start. Until this En Sabah Nur's armies arrive on the doorstep, there is very little we can do to directly face them."

 

So... Research. Talking to the most knowledgable people in the world about mythology, history and science.

 

And from little scraps of fringe science, and discredited religeous texts, a story was taking shape. The most reliable piece came from a parchment found in a norse temple, that was orginally thought to be a fairytale.

 

_In the beginning, there were six lights. Each was wielded by powerful forces, and in turn could control a primal aspect of the universe._

 

_Ahnilus wielded a gem that controlled the very fabric of space. He would use the gem to wage war on the entire universe at once and make himself the leader of the entire reality._

 

_Galactus wielded a gem that controlled the soul. It could be used to control every living thing in the universe. He would use the gem to devour all of the universe down to the last soul in the hopes of sating his hunger._

 

_Kang wielded the gem of Time with such finess, that he could have taken all other gems, if not for the intervention of the others. He planned to create the perfect universe in his image._

 

_The Dark Elves had sneaked into the bargain, and had the gem of power. There plans were petty, and quickly quashed._

 

_The Mad Titan had the gem of reality, and it was he who enacted their plan. Whatever he intended to do, it was stopped by betrayal from every other member of their cabal._

 

_And finally, there was a Great Dragon of the Moon. She controlled the mindgem faithfully for the group._

 

_The first action of the group was to send Galactus out of their new realities. Then they stole the reality gem from the Mad Titan. Kang hid that gem with powerful caretakers, but the Mad Titan convinced the Dragon of the Moon to turn on Kang and sentence him outside of time. This was where the first Cornerstone was created. Then, the Mad Titan spread seeds of doubt about Ahnilus to the Dark Elves. They used their great power to send him outside reality, and in doing so, created the second Cornerstone. The Dragon of the Moon then stripped the elves of their knowledge and took the Gem of Power for her master, The Mad Titan._

 

_It took eons to create the next two cornerstones. First, by repelling Galactus' re-emegence into this world and sealing him into another Cornerstone. And then at the end of a great war with the Asgardians, Thanos struck the Dark Elves and created the final cornerstone from the last of the old order._

 

_And so the Cornerstones were created._

 

"Anthing else?" Ryder asked, sitting next to Unique who was quickly flicking through scanned documents on her computer.

 

"Just a few stories about people having nightmares about these figures." Unique shrugged. "What was on the tablet?"

 

That was another story. It depicted a battle between a creature called Apocalypse and the Dragon of the Moon. It seemed that the Dragon had used multiple gems to cause a massive defect in every mutant born after Apocalypse. Apocalypse had used her own gem to try to rectify it, but they had both laid killing blows on the other. But stories of the Dragon continued even to this day. Mostly from people who woke up from Comas.

 

"It's like... She still exists... Just on some kind of psychic plane." Marley said, frowning and turning to Jake, "And if En Sabah Nur is Apocalypse..."

 

"That tablet must be the only thing keeping them around like that. And if it's destroyed, everything'll go to chaos." Jake frowened, "Maybe Apocalypse thinks he can control the chaos somehow?"

 

"He talked about us throwing away one of the gems..." Kitty's eyes widened, "The staff?"

 

"Wait, if this 'Mad Titan' changed what the gems looked like... They're still around. Apocalypse must want to use one to really control how it all changes."

 

"So, all we have to do is make sure it doesn't get destroyed." Jake said calmly, looking around. "Which means we're staying here. It's the safest place."

 

* * *

 

 

"Charles! We would have words!"

 

The shout echoed from the front of the mansion all the way through the building. Marley and Jake had been sharing a tub of ice-cream, and their smile dropped completely. After a second, the entire building started to shake, and the spoon they had been using tore free from his hand and attached to the cooker, as everything metal in the room started to shake. Marley could feel the hardrive on the computers corrupting from intense magnetic fields. Somehow the shield in the basement stayed online.

 

"Come on," Jake said calmly, stepping out of his seat and heading for the front door. But Marley remained sat for a moment. They had known something was coming, but what were they supposed to do? If Xavier's kids got involved, it might be a blood bath. Or, if they did survive and they had to kill their attacker... Would they be allowed to stay?

 

"Hey..."

 

Marley's eyes jerked back up, and found Jean at the door, looking at her in worry. "What're you doing?"

 

She didn't have an answer at first, before she let out a sigh. "We barely lasted a week before we had to fight for our lives. And we've brought danger to your door."

 

"This isn't your fault," Jean said calmly, stepping into the room and walking to the table. "Erik comes back to the mansion every couple of months, once he works out how to get past Hank's magnetic disrupter."

 

"Who is Erik?"

 

"Professor Xavier's... He's a mutant like us. He was the one who killed Forge." Jean said, her face twisting in disgust. "He keeps coming back to 'protect us'. That was why he killed Forge. He thought that Forge was going to sell us out to the humans. Now, he keeps trying to force us to accept him back."

 

"What does he do?"

 

"He controls electro-magnetic fields. The only person who can go toe to toe with him in terms of pure power is Bobby. But Erik taught Bobby everything Bobby knows..." Jean shrugged, "Usually, we find a way to make him leave. Last time, Scott faked a heart attack and then injected him with mercury. Erik was so busy trying to extract it, that Hank could slip the magnetic distuption collar."

 

"So, where are you going?" Marley asked, looking around, "Shouldn't you be out there fighting?"

 

"I don't have any powers. Erik could kill me a thousand ways without even realising it." Jean shrugged, "It's smarter for me to stay in Cerebro. He'd never damage that. It's the only think that keeps me and the Professor alive."

 

"I'll get him to leave." Marley said, with a determained tone, standing up. "You shouldn't have to live with this..."

 

"Marley..." Jean paused, looking at Marley for a moment, with a sad expression, "You don't have to either."

 

* * *

 

 

Ryder was waiting for the spark. Because at the moment, it felt like they were all stood in a powder keg. Hank was in the middle of explaining who these trespassers were, but Ryder was only picking up every other word.

 

Erik Lensherr was an old friend of Professor Xavier. He was also insane, and had the power to do... Something. Something that let him fly apparently, since he was floating a few feet up in the air, his arms folded as he had a quiet conversation with Professor Xavier. Ryder couldn't hear what they were saying, but he was watching carefully, since Jake and Scott were also stood flanking the Professor. He was wearing a trenchcoat that billowed out in some kind of breeze, and looked like some kind of angry god ready to smite them all down.

 

And then there was Cain Marko. The Professor's step brother. But the difference between the two was ridiculous. Marko must have been 7 or 8 foot, and was built like a walking mountain.

 

"Cain is usually rather easy to defeat. He only has minorly enhanced strength and durability." Hank finished, turning back to the group. "Bobby will hold of Erik if a fight breaks out, and it'll be our job to take down Marko as quickly as possible and join him in his offensive."

 

"Was he always that big?" Warren asked, flexing his wings instinctively. "I remember him smaller."

 

"Maybe he's been working out." Hank muttered, his head whipping around, "Who..."

 

Ryder turned to look where Hank was staring, and felt his jaw tense as Marley stormed up to Erik and started snapping angrily, gesturing with a hand at him. The man frowned, looking at the Professor for a moment, before he lifted up into the air.

 

"That doesn't seem good," Ryder said quietly, as Beast shook his head.

 

"Down!"

 

Warren's warning came almost too late, and if Ryder hadn't been ready to teleport already, he would have been a smear on the ground. Instead, his hand shot out and grabbed Beast's wrist. They flashed into the air for a moment, and then down to the ground, as Cain Marko stormed through where they had been stood. Warren launched into the sky, and Unique cracked her knuckles, running towards him too and raising her fist to strike at him.

 

The first blow rocked Cain back on his feet. Ryder could see the smug grin on Unique's face, as she stopped moving and turned to look at everyone.

 

And then Cain took a step towards her and backhanded her with one meaty paw. Her feet lifted from the ground, and her body was launched almost completely horizontally into the distance. The shield around the Mansion surged with energy for a moment as she hit it.

 

Ryder flashed in, kicking at Cain's face, and then vanishing before the man could make contact. Around them the air grew painfully cold, and full of the static, but Ryder couldn't focus on that. All his attention had to be on making sure this hulking man didn't kill everyone.

 

He teleported back behind Cain and kicked him in the back. The flurry of movement was only a distraction though, and Ryder knew it. There was only so much he could do to stop Cain from just charging through people.

 

* * *

 

 

Jake was watching in impotent awe. Two superpowers were going to war, only a few feet away from them, and all Jake could do was witness it and try to keep the Professor safe.

 

Erik was floating in the sky, pulling metal from the ground and the mansion itself, remolding them into sharp spears and throwing them at the group. Each missile could spear them through without any resistance, if it weren't for Bobby Drake.

 

The boy wasn't flying, but his changes were more pronounced, as his body turned into pure ice. His efforts to protect them was obviously more showy too, as he raised giant walls of ice between the group and the missiles. Then, with another gesture, the wall splintered and launched itself at Erik in the sky as similar missiles.

 

But they never landed. Instead, they seemed to hit a dome around Erik and vanish into steam. Bobby took a step forward, thrusting his hand at Erik. The air suddenly became bitterly cold. as ice seemed to form around Erik inside of his shield.

 

"Very smart, Mr. Drake." Erik sneered, floating a little closer to Bobby. "But as always you suffer from the bane of youth. Inattention."

 

The ground beneath Jake started to shake violently, and he tried to throw himself to the side as metal surged out of the ground. Solid bars wrapped around him, pressing tight against his body as Scott and the Professor underwent similar fates.

 

Bobby looked back at them, eyes wide. He opened his mouth to shout something, but before he completed the first noise, a metal pole embedded itself through his chest and speared him into the ground. Before it was fully embedded, another three poles had joint the first.

 

"Alas, I believe that is the final act of this little conflict." Erik said, landing gently next to Bobby, as the metal seemed to melt and cover his body in a shiny coat. "Charles. Surrender."

 

"Scott."

 

The beam of red energy lanced across the ground, tearing Scott's cage completely apart and hitting Erik with enough force to send him tumbling across the garden. Two more short blasts released the Professor and Jake. But Erik was back on his feet, and the air seemed to buzz with energy,

 

"That was not the most intelligent plan, Charles. Your pupils will be punished for your disobedience."

 

"Nope!"

 

The voice came from above, and Jake looked up on instinct as a giant ice foot smashed down onto Erik. Just inside the barrier, Bobby stood at least 30 feet high, his ice form. "We keep having this fight, and I keep trying to out think you, Mr. Lensherr. But that's what you expect! So lets fight dirty."

 

"Lets."

 

The warning came seconds before reality seemed to give out completely. A hole appeared in midair. That was the only way to describe it. There was nothing on the other side, and rubble began to float from the ground towards it. Jake turned to the Professor and held his wheelchair down.

 

Bobby's attention was obviously split, as he reached down to put his hand around the hole. That was the only distraction Erik needed, as he launched up through Bobby's leg and out of his knee. In one smooth motion, he created a huge blade that cut through Bobby's upper leg without any resistance.

 

"Surrender before I open another wormhole!" Erik snarled, pointing at the professor. "You have tried my patience. And if these five exist, more must also. I will find those, and protect them."

 

"Hey!"

 

Jake turned in horror as Marley walked calmly out of the schools door, holding something in her hand. Erik frowned, his hands tensing at his side as the blade raised to Bobby's ice throat.

 

"Special Delivery, Ryder style."

 

There was the tiniest pause, and then she launched something into the sky at high speed. Scott used the distraction to hit Erik with another blast of red energy. The sword at Bobby's thoat collapsed into scrap as the gravitational pull seemed to fade away in an instant. Half a second later, and Ryder appeared behind the man with a collar that he quickly snapped around his neck.

 

Marley barely let the man fall down, before she turned to Scott. "We need to take down the other guy."

 

"I can handle that." Scott said darkly, storming forward and raising his glasses. The red energy lanced across the garden and hit Cain Marko in the chest. The man flew into the distance. "Okay. It's over."

 

"It's over?" Marley asked, stepping forward. "Cain is still out there!"

 

"And he'll run off to lick his wounds," Henry said, as Unique helped him to his feet. "It's how things work."

 

Marley opened her mouth to argue, and then paused, looking up. "Is the shield supposed to do that?"

 

Jake looked up, and frowned as the shield seemed to flicker above them for a few seconds.

 

"No..." Warren muttered, landing next to them with wide eyes. "What's happening?"

 

"Erik's powers must have had an effect on the shield generator." Henry said, already rushing towards the building.

 

"No... No. No." Marley whispered, turning around suddenly. Jake moved to her side, as she started to back away and hold her hands to her mouth. "S.H.I.E.L.D.... They found us!"

 

 


	13. Runaways 13

It's too late to stop the shield around the mansion from colapsing, but Marley and Hank McCoy vanished into the basement to try and fix it anyway. Unique isn't sure what they plan on achieving with it though. If it couldn't stop five teenagers, it won't stop the Army, or S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra.

 

The rest of them watch the breaking news however, as the Helicarrier that has been watching New York, slowly turns in midair and starts flying north. The people on the news are trying to work out whether it has been hijacked, or if they've found more S.H.I.E.L.D. safehouses.

 

But they knew the truth. In an hours time, a flying aircraft carrier would be darkening the skies above the mansion. And what could you do against something like that?

 

Run.

 

"Do you think they have weapons on that thing?" Ryder asked, turning around on the sofa to look at her. They were all gathered in the living room, in varying states of shock. She had been pacing behind the rest of them, who had sat in the chairs and sofas.

 

"It's the army. They'll have something nasty on it." Jake huffed, setting his jaw as he looked up. "And that's ignoring the chance that they'll bring the Avengers. Or..."

 

Yeah. The Glee Club.

 

"I mean, it's flying using Iron Man's repulsor stuff. They could retrofit that into a laser beam or something." Bobby frowned, crossing his arms. "I don't think I could make enough ice to block that."

 

"I think we'd know if they had laser beams. But those things make a lot of power. Put one in a bomb, and the mansion would be a crater." Jake said simply, frowning at the people on the TV who were now applauding the military for making such a powerful gesture.

 

"We're wasting time. If Ryder starts moving us in smaller clumps we could probably be out of the country in the hour." Unique said finally, putting her hand on Ryder's shoulder. "Russia's pretty close."

 

"S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't care about international law." Kitty muttered darkly, "Or Hydra."

 

"Maybe not, but the US Army isn't going to fly a Helicarrier over Russia. One problem down." Unique muttered.

 

"And a hundred more ahead of you." The Professor's voice came from the next room, as he slowly made his way to them. His face was now showing every year of his potential age. "Luckily, I've called in a favour. I would suggest you all go to your rooms and dress for.... Whatever could happen next."

 

The students started to file out of the room, and after a moment, Ryder and Kitty followed them. Jake didn't move though, his eyes focused on the Professor as though trying to work out some kind of problem. Unique didn't have time for that though. If they were running away again, she wanted to pack clean clothes.

 

The room that would have been hers was nice. It had a beautiful window seat, and felt strangely serene. She pushed past the thoughts of what could have been, and found a duffel bag, shoving clean clothes into it. They were mainly mens clothes, borrowed from Hank since he was the most similar body type. Still, clean clothes were clean.

 

"You're packing."

 

The voice nearly made her jump out of her skin, and she turned ready for a fight before she caught herself. Warren Worthington stood in the doorway, having swapped out his shirt for a leather jacket that let his wings out of the back. Some part of her clocked that it would at least numb the bumps and bruises.

 

"I thought that was the plan. They can't expect us to fight a Helicarrier." She said, turning back to her bag. "Why? Do you want to stay?"

 

"I don't know. I'm not going to find anywhere else like here. Not looking like this." Warren shrugged, and his wings unfurled a little.

 

"The sewers aren't as gross as you'd think." Unique said, with a small smile. "If we run, we live to fight another day."

 

"Yeah, but what... What are we fighting for? I'm totally cool with fighting for a cause, but what is it?"

 

"The right to survive." She couldn't understand what he didn't get.

 

"But why won't we survive? I mean... Okay, maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra did some terrible things to you, and the army might want you as a weapon. But once the world knows about us, do you really think the Army will be able to take us and lock us away in a secret lab?" Warren walked to the window, looking into the distance.

 

"Maybe not. But S.H.I.E.L.D. or Hydra won't want us talking about what they did to us. And if they make us sound like we're already dangerous science experiment..." Unique huffed, zipping the duffel.

 

"Maybe they could try that with you five, but there's four people here who are completely natural." Warren grinned in what Unique was sure was supposed to be a charming way. "And do you think they could keep Bobby, Scott or your friend Ryder trapped under humane conditions."

 

"Oh please." Unique felt her patience snap. "You think the world is so good and proper. That we'd be kept in normal holding cells in a normal prison? What about the thousands of ways that the government make terrorists vanish?"

 

"Are you a terrorist?"

 

"Do you think it matters to them?!" Unique shouted. "If we're taken, we'll be on examination tables by the end of the week, so that somebody can recreate us. The only thing that changes is whether or not we're still breathing."

 

And with that, she stormed out of the room, bag pulled over her shoulder.

 

When everyone met back up in the front lobby, they could see the Helicarrier. Beyond that, a few Quinnjets were already setting down just outside the shield.

 

"There will be no unprovoked violence." The Professor said calmly, as he moved closer to the door. "Defend yourself by all means, but we should hear them out first."

 

The knock came shortly after, and both Jake and Scott went to open the door. Scott backed off first though, which Unique was strangely glad about. If they started firing, Jake could survive it.

 

"Uh..." The soldier on the otherside of the door looked at the assembled people with worry in his eyes. Specifically Unique and Kitty, Unique was quick to notice. "I'm supposed to ask you all to stay inside the house until we find a negotiator. If you try and run away, the Army will be forced to take agressive action."

 

"Thank you, young man." The Professor said, with a patient smile. "I would invite you in, but I suspect you would be unable to accept. Please, let your commander know that we have no intent on leaving. However, we wish to know if any other factions will be involved in this discussion."

 

"One second." The Solider took a step back, and pressed a finger against his ear for a moment, before nodding. "General Ross says that The Avengers are on route, and that S.H.I.E.L.D. is sending a contingent to advise. Is there anybody you would like to speak to?"

 

"No, thank you. Our counsel will be arriving soon." The Professor nodded. "You may return to your plane now. Thank you for the warning."

 

"Thank you, sir." The Soldier nodded, and backed away awkwardly, unable to look away from the small group. It might have been mistaken for paranoia, but Unique knew that they could all kill him in a second.

 

Jake shut the door again, and let out a long breath. "So, we're trapped in the mansion."

 

"Mr. Puckerman, do you truely believe that even that ship could stop my students from leaving the mansion grounds if they put there minds to it?" The Professor smiled, though it was obviously strained. "Now. We wait."

 

"Yes we do, Charles." A new voice came from behind them, and Unique turned ready to inflict violence on the person behind them. She knew that they should run. An assasin...

 

"Director Fury. Thank you for arriving so promptly." The Professor called, folding his hands in his lap. "Though, I expected you to take a little longer."

 

"Director Fury? THE Director Fury?" Jean asked, voice full of wonder. "The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

 

Unique felt her nails start to break her skin as she clenched her fists tightly, looking at the man who was stood on the stairs behind them, leaning against the bannister. He was dressed like a homeless man. A ratty old sweater and jeans. Add in the knit cap and eye patch, and it was cinema-chique homelessness.

 

"This is the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Jake asked, his voice obviously tinged with the same anger that was coursing through her veins. But also respect. It took Unique a moment to understand. Despite everything, he had still run the national spy agency. If anything, how he looked at the moment was meant to make them underestimate him.

 

"Ex-Director. And you are the kids that have been leading S.H.I.E.L.D. Hydra, Stark and the US Army on a wild chase around the country." Fury said, looking at them in turn, before turning away dismissively, "I expected to be more impressed."

 

"Oh, come over here, and I'll show you 'Impressed'," Unique snarled, trying to step forward, only to be blocked by Kitty and Marley.

 

Fury looked at her again, more judgingly, "Try and control youselves. We're about to enter the second biggest event of the decade, and it'll be a lot easier if you act like adults."

 

"I called Director Fury here to negotiate with everyone and see if we can come to a peaceful solution." The Professor explained, but Unique just wanted to laugh. This was the guy who was supposed to fix everything? He was on the run from the army wasn't he? At this point, she'd rather let Magneto free. They'd locked him downstairs with a collar that was supposed to mute his powers, but he was pushed to the back of the line with what was currently happening.

 

"I need to make a few phone calls. Ground rules. No hacking my Helicarrier. No flying. No laser beams, ice walls, or teleporting." Fury pointed to each othem in turn, "And no listening in on my phone calls." With that, he turned and walked back out of the room.

 

"We're trusting him? Really?" Unique muttered, "The guy who didn't realise that S.H.I.E.L.D. was Hydra."

 

"Nicholas is one of the most tactically gifted men in our century." Professor Xavier cut in, "Now that the entire institute has been uncovered, out safety is squarely in his hands."

 

"We could run," Ryder said, looking jittery, "Hide in a place no-one would think to look. Wakana, or Genosha. Maybe Madripoor or Krakoa."

 

"Look, you might have been okay living a life on the run, but Jean and the Professor need Cerebro," Scott snapped.

 

"No!" Kitty snapped, "We're not running away! Can you stop dragging people into this and then leaving! McKinley, New York, San Francisco... People have their lives ruined just by being near us! So for once, we stay, and we deal with our problems like freaking adults!"

 

The silence that followed her outbust was like a knife. Unique felt the air leave her lungs, like her chest had been sliced open. Nobody could meet Kitty's eyes, and finally she stormed out of the room and back into the living room.

 

The silence continued for several seconds, and for once Unique wasn't angry. What was left was just.... fear. She didn't have any choices. Running was next to impossible without Ryder, and he wouldn't leave without everyone else.

 

"So... We fight." Jake started, obviously plotting in his mind. "Marley can deal with the helicarrier, and we can..."

 

"No, Mr. Puckerman. Diplomacy should be our first attempt." Professor Xavier cut into the planning, with a voice that was probabably sharper than he intended.

 

Unique used that moment to slip out of the hallway. The Kitchen was empty, and she could see what was going on outside through the windows. There were more jets, and soldiers that quickly noticed her. She folded her arms, and glared at them. It wasn't like they could do anything to her.

 

"You're not going to scare them away." Warren said softly from the doorway. "They're the ones with guns."

 

"Bullets don't bother me, anyway," Unique muttered turning towards him, "What do you want?"

 

"I was thinking about what you said upstairs. And... Maybe you had a point." Warren muttered, moving to open the fridge and look inside.

 

"About..."

 

"Don't say it facing the window. They could read your lips." Warren said, his voice sharply cutting her off. "Yeah, I think we should think about running away."

 

Unique nodded, and moved to join him looking into the fridge. "What changed your mind?"

 

"Please, did you see who we're supposed to be trusting? I thought the Professor had a plan, but I've got more of a plan than he does right now."

 

"So, how do we get out of here?"

 

"I'm going to carry you. We'll get out of New York, and then I'll use my dads money to sneak us out of the country." Warren explained, "I know how to access some of it in case of an emergency."

 

"Okay. That's... Part of a plan. How do you plan on carrying me? Can you outfly a jet?"

 

"I don't have to! Once we get into a populated area, they'll have to leave us alone."

 

"Until someone like Iron-Man or Falcon picks up the chase!"

 

"Look, do you want to run or not."

 

Unique bit her lip, and looked over her shoulder as another jet landed. It'd mean leaving everyone but... They weren't going to leave this place now. And if they were caught, it'd be better to have someone on the outside right? to help fix things?

 

"Yeah." She said softly. "Let's go.

 

* * *

 

 

The battlelines had been drawn. Everyone who was going to arrive, had arrived. Director Fury had opened the door to a bunch of agents in black jump suits, with an inscruitable look on his face. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. had been backed up with more ground personnel, and more importantly, the Avengers.

 

"I approached Charles Xavier before the S.H.I.E.L.D. went up. I'd seen people spontaneously develop powers before, but it usually ended painfully. When I discovered the school, I decided that it was a stable place that shouldn't be put on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s books. We didn't want anyone trying to recreate the conditions and start churning out 'Miracles'"

 

Fury looked at the four of them obviously, and Jake reached down to squeeze Marley's hand as she went to stand up.

 

"Someone did though. Somebody you should have stopped." He said calmly, staring Fury down. "And now the world is about to know about us."

 

"So, we want this to go as smoothly as possible. Here is my first suggestion. You and your friends surrender into the custody of Director Coulson's S.H.I.E.L.D." Fury paused, and Jake did his best to keep his face blank. "You'll very quickly use your secret technopathy to publish what happened to you, and why you did what you did. S.H.I.E.L.D will decide that it isn't practical to put you on trial since there will no longer be an unbiased jury, and that you have very few peers. You'll instead be under close monitoring by S.H.I.E.L.D whilst Professor Xavier goes public with his school and raises the profile."

 

"And, what's stopping you changing the story once we're in custody?" Kitty asked, her face tight with concentration. "Painting us as dangerous escapees, and making us vanish in a fight somewhere away from the cameras?"

 

"I understand what you've been through. I've seen it before. In Banner, and Romanoff, and Rodgers. You're reacting like animals that have been fought into a corner. Lashing out at anyone who comes near. I'll tell you what I told them. Snap out of it!" Fury folded his arms, radiating frost. "You can't deal with this alone, and we're the only people offering to help. Maybe we have other motives. And I'm sure you'll deal with them violently if we get to that. But, the problem in front of you right now is what is important."

 

Ryder looked at Jake from across the room, and Jake didn't know what to

 

The answer came from outside. It was so loud

 

_**"This is your only warning! Return to the mansion, or we will fire. You have ten seconds to alter your course. Ten. Nine..."** _

 

"Who..." Marley turned, and her eyes shot open, "Unique!"

 

Jake rushed towards the window, watching as two vaguely human shapes soared between the mansion and the Helicarrier. The countdown hit zero, and the figures dropped violently like some kind of strings had been cut. Jake's eyes opened wide, and he turned back to the room. "Ryder, Go!"

 

"No!" Fury tried to shout, but the warning came too late, as Ryder vanished and reappeared with two bodies. Unique rolled over to face them in an instant, and Jake covered his mouth. She was covered in blood, and she wasn't moving.

 

"Are you..." He wanted to ask if she was hurt, but his attention was torn away.

 

"I need help here!" Ryder yelled, and Jake's pin point focus on Unique was forced to expand to include the other person Ryder had teleported in. Warren Worthington was laid out limply, with Ryder basically kneeling on him, pushing his hands into a massive bullet hole.

 

A shield agent rushed forward at the same time as Marley stepped forward with her eyes blank. The Agent didn't blink though, as she leant down and started to feel around Ryder's hands. "Mr. Worthington? Can you hear me? My name is Jemma. Can you talk?"

 

"Incoming!" Another Agent, the severe asian woman, shouted. Jake reacted on instinct, stretching his body over as many people as he could in the split second between the warning and the bullets tearing into the room. The Agent who shouted, and Bobby both dove for cover. A moment later, the bullets stopped.

 

"Is everyone okay?" Fury called, and everyone called out. "Okay, why did they stop firing?"

 

"I panicked," Bobby said nervously, and Jake could see what he meant. About a meter from the wall, an ice wall had appeared, that reached five stories high, and curved towards the house.

 

"Everyone needs to get out now. Ryder, take Agent Simmons and Worthington to the ship we arrived in." Fury snapped.

 

Ryder looked to Jake again, and Jake nodded sharply. A moment later, they had vanished.

 

"Everyone else, run!" Fury snapped, gesturing toward the Helicarrier. Xavier's students started moving first, and Unique quickly snatched the Professor up with his chair and followed. It wasn't particularly dignified, but survival never was.

 

"Why are we running?" Jake managed to ask, as Bobby tried to open the wall a little.

 

"They came expecting Energy Blasts, teleportation, computer hacking, stretching and strength. The flying man already had them nervous, and then a wall of ice the size of some good buildings appears in a second?" Fury said, shoving Jake forward when the crack opened enough to get through."

 

"So they're scared?"

 

"And when confronted with the unknown, they're likely to respond with overwhelming force." Fury looked up, and suddenly started sprinting forward faster. Jake glanced up too, slowing a little as something glowing dropped from the sky.

 

And then, a wave of force threw him off his feet.

 

* * *

 

 

Ryder had no idea where Agent Simmons and Warren were. He had teleported outside of the ship to find out what was happening, and found... Nothing. The mansion was gone. All that was left was a crater.

 

It took him too long to find anyone else. The air was quickly filled with smoke and dust, and his lungs hurt as he ran across the distance, looking for anyone. But something was wrong. By now, the Army should have moved in to secure the site, right?

 

He found Marley and Kitty first, scraped from head to foot. At a guess, based on the massive gash across the landscape, Kitty had snatched up Marley and fired an energy blast to rocket them away from the explosion.

 

He leaned down, and helped turn them over. "Hey, are you okay?"

 

Kitty opened her eyes first, looking around blearily. "Ryder?"

 

"Yeah. Something exploded, I don't..." Ryder paused, as a loud buzzing filled his ears. The world seemed to move around them, and when he turned around, the jet he had come from wasn't there anymore. Looking up, neither was the Helicarrier. "Something's happening."

 

"What? Was that bomb some kind of... magic thing?" Kitty asked, looking around wildly.

 

Marley sat up, eyes blurry. "The Mansion."

 

"It's gone, Marley." Ryder said softly. "I couldn't find Jake."

 

"He's over there. Look." Kitty gestured, and Ryder turned, to catch sight of Unique walking towards them, carrying Jake.

 

He was about to shout out, when the buzzing vanished, and was replaced with a piercing white noise. In the distance, a giant man faded into existance, pointing at them with fury, before he vanished. The sky suddenly darkened with a thousand insectoid warrior men. Visions of other lives flashed before Ryder's eyes.

 

"The Mansion." Marley repeated, grabbing at Ryder's arm. "The tablet..."

 

It hit him with stark clarity. They had put the last keystone in the bowels of the mansion, where nobody would get to it. But the explosion had left no sign of the mansion at all. The last keystone had been destroyed. Releasing...

 

"I am En-Sabah-Nur. I am Apocalypse. And I bid that this world merge!"

 

Everything twisted, and suddenly things started appearing. The Helicarrier, the army, the Professor's students, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents...

 

And standing on the lip of the crater that had been the school, was the old man from their dream. But as he stood there, he seemed to become younger and more muscular. A suit of armor formed around his body, made of exotic technology.

 

Ryder felt his breath catch, as a wave of wrongness passed over him. En Sabah turned his attention to the world around him slowly, and then...

 

The world started to scream.

 

 


	14. Runaways 14

En Sabah Nur, AKA 'The First One', had risen.

 

He looked even more terrifying in person, his body standing at least three times as high as anybody else on the battlefield that had once been the Xavier Mansion for Higher Learning. The Hulk would only reach mid-thigh, if he wasn't on the floor holding his skull and vibrating in and out of the universe. His blue armor seemed to soak in light from everywhere around it, and his grey skin cracked with every flicker of life.

 

They were so fucked.

 

"Hit him high, Hit him low!" Jake yelled, launching himself forward as stretched out as he could to wrap around En Sab Nur's arms and chest. Right now, he was barely awake. They only had seconds before he would become completely conscious and begin his slaughter. He could feel the vibration of Unique impacting the legs, whilst the air above him grew brighter as En Sabah Nur's head tilted backwards a little.

 

And then, his body tensed. And Jake felt like the air was being sucked out of him for a moment. Around the battle field, the X-Men and his friends' pain seemed to triple, and there was the sound of at least two people collapsing.

 

"An interesting assortment to have survived so long," En Sabah Nur's voice whispered above him, tasting the air like a fine wine for a moment, before he tensed again, and nearly tore Jake apart. He released the giant as quickly as possible and let himself be launched back away from the hole that had once been the Xavier Institute. But En Sabah Nur's voice continued to whisper around him. "Technopathy, Energy absorption, creation and projection, strength, molecular control and teleportation. And those are simply from you who are aware. I feel your blood flow as if it were my own."

 

Jake groaned, forcing himself off the ground as En Sabah Nur started to move, his armor and skin cracking violently as they moved for the first time in centuries. Unique had forced herself to her feet nearby, obviously kicked away when he had been. She charged forward, her fist pulled back. The air around seemed darker than night for a moment, and then she laid into En Sabah Nur with a punch that Jake was sure would be able to knock a skyscraper down.

 

En Sabah Nur didn't flinch. He continued to walk forward around her fist, his body liquifying and shifting shape. For a moment, Jake couldn't comprehend what it was turning in to, until En Sabah Nur leveled the barrel of what had once been his fist at Ryder and fired. Kitty intercepted it, firing back with her own energy, but losing ground quickly. Behind her, Ryder was grabbing Marley who was looking blankly into the distance, and teleporting away, before the blast finally completely outmatched Kitty's own and smashed her into the ground.

 

"Cryokinesis, Shapeshifting, Telepathy, Telekinesis..." Every word slipped out of his mouth, and sounded like a starving man reading an all you could eat menu. "I will raise you as an army against the humans, and we will march! Join me..."

 

"Nev--" Unique had charged at him as he monologued, and Jake screamed out as En Sabah Nur's entire head and torso twisted a 180 degrees to face her and hit her point blank with one of Kitty's energy blasts. The resulting crater had to be at least a few meters long, and six foot deep. Jake surged forward uselessly, and swung at Apocalypse absorbing the kinetic blasts without harm. But similarly, his own blows were completely ineffectual.

 

"You... You gave me my greatest reward. I am now beyond death! Beyond harm!" En Sabah Nur laughed, reaching out with his hand and turning it into a sphere around Jake. For a moment, Jake was fighting against it, and then the sphere started to shrink, forcing Jake to fold himself in on himself to avoid being crushed under Unique level strength.

 

And then there was the smell of smoke, and En Sabah Nuh let out a yell of pain,his body retreating to it's human shape. Jake looked around blearily, and finally caught sight of his saviour.

 

Kurt Hummel, clad in a skin tight leather body suit, was hefting huge, archaic looking gauntlets towards them. The way they smoked, Jake had no doubt that they were what had just discharged the blast.

 

En Sabah Nuh turned, his eyes turning pure white as he glared at Kurt. "Why is your mechanism hid from me!"

 

"No computer." Kurt slid his hands into the gauntlets easily, and then pulled what appeared to be a flak vest over his chest. "This is what my people would call... Vintage."

 

"It is more than that. The woman is blocking me. Using her power to amplify every signal..." Whatever realisation he had been on his way to understanding was cut off by a blur of metal crashing into him at high speed, sending him staggering a few steps as a ball of metal wings rolled to a stop a few feet further away. Before En Sabah Nuh could react to that indignity, there was a distortion in the air, and then En Sabah Nur was airborn, and being tossed around in vibrations as Tina walked towards him, her hand outstretched with a crystal held in the center by an obviously improvised wire webbing.

 

Jake stumbled to his feet, feeling his body plump back into human dimensions as his brother stood up with his wings, holding a pair of clamp switches in his hands. "Hey, Jake."

 

"I am a god! I am the First Mutant! I am Apocalypse!"

 

Kurt rolled his eyes at En Sabah Nur's rant, rushing forward and slamming his fist into En Sabah Nur's chest forcing him to remain at a normal human size as electricity crackled across his skin painfully. En Sabah Nur swung back at Kurt, smashing into his chest. Jake winced as Kurt was flung back, but quickly stood up shaking his head and looking at his chest in wonder.

 

That was when Kitty made her re-emergence known, running up to En Sabah Nur's human form, and placing her hands on either side of his head. He obviously tried to shift away, but his body was still crackling with static. And then Kitty let loose a blast that made the ground beneath the two of them crater. The light was completely hidden by the way her hands cupped around his skull, so Jake could see the way that Tina moved to the edge of the crater and raised her own hand, warping the air between herself and En Sabah Nur and obviously causing him even more pain. Kurt was joining in too, taking off one of the gauntlets and setting it on the ground, releasing a stream of electricity along an almost invisible wire that had fired from it's knuckles and was now embedded in En Sabah Nur's armor.

 

"Come on bro," Puck muttered in his ear, as he shuffled closer to Jake and spread his wings. "We need you somewhere else."

 

Jake nodded, wrapping himself around Puck's neck and waist as Puck pulled the clamp switches in his hands and his boots exploded into movement, launching them into the air.

 

* * *

 

 

"You're doing great, Marley," Ryder whispered quietly as he rubbed her back, her eyes completely vacant as her body twitched all over the place. She was using her powers more completely than she had ever done before, with En Sabah Nur using his own power back against her to make sure that she couldn't effect the battle. But Marley was using that split focus against him too, to hide things from his senses and keeping him off balance.

 

Ryder had been ready to fight when Quinn and Sam had rushed towards them, but Sam had skidded to a stop next to them, and took Marley's hand, the air around them growing hazy as the swarm of nanobots started to react to Sam's emotions. Marley's face grew a little more slack, but then her jaw set and Puck flew towards En Sabah Nur without being shot from the air.

 

"Why aren't you helping?" Ryder asked Quinn after a moment, looking her over with thinly veiled contempt. His leg still twinged from where her shield had intersected it. "Your weird alien shield would be really helpful right about now."

 

"It's still technological." The implied 'idiot' hung heavy in the air, but Ryder wasn't going to take that laying down.

 

"Marley couldn't affect it last time, why..."

 

"Because his armor is obviously not human. It's alien. Which means he has more experience controlling that, and we don't know if he could use it to kill me outright, or anyone else around me." Quinn snapped, and Ryder felt like curling in on himself and never speaking again.

 

"Shut. Up." Marley ground out, shaking her head slowly. "You're both really distracting."

 

Everyone fell quiet as she started to twitch again, occasionally letting out grunts as though she had been struck. And the other three just had to sit there and watch.

 

* * *

 

 

The technology of En Sabah Nur's suit was more advanced that anything Marley had ever seen. Even Quinn's shield implant had been closer to human technology, laid out in a linear fashion, and with humanoid architecture.

 

_"My Armor was built by Celestials. They destroyed worlds with a thought, and walked in stars. How do you hope to comprehend its majesty."_

 

En Sabah Nur's voice was everything in this space, and Marley resisted the urge to duck and hide. It wouldn't make any difference since the air around her was opaque with alien symbols. It was like centuries of data trying to enter her perception at the same time. She swiped her hand instinctively, seperating one section of symbols that seemed to blur and turn to english words in her periphery. **The Avian species of WAH-185, known as Aerie by the local population, was completely wiped out by a being known as Thanos before they developed space flight.**

 

A solid hit sent her flying into the air. Except it wasn't the air. She knew that. This was all her brain trying to make sense of the architecture of the armor.

 

So why couldn't it look like she wanted it to look. She closer her eyes, and focused on what she should be seeing. She'd been hit off something, so that had to be the ground. She was flying through something, so that had to be the air. She hadn't fallen back down though, so there was no gravity, and the data that was clogging her was... that was her armor.

 

When her eyes opened, the world was different. In the far distance, everything was a sickly green, but at least she could see it now. She was floating in mid-air, and a few miles away En Sabah Nur was stood on a cylinder at the center. She twisted her body, noting the heavy silver armor covering every inch of her skin.

 

_**"Celestial Exitar encountered a creature known as Norin Radd, on planet BRT-735. It vanished in the time it would take a light atom to move the distance of a single atom. Exitar hunted the creature across the universe, until Exitar was brutally murdered and completely removed from reality, by use of an Infinity Gem."** _

 

Marley shook her head forcing the knowledge away, but keeping the memory of what the Celestial's had seen. A silver figure on a surf board, body twisted unnaturally with a bright green glow, that spread from the gem that had been forced into his chest. And how he had raised his hands and released silvery energy.

 

She looked down at where the alien symbols were suddenly flowing from her silvery armor and down into a surfboard shape. She hesitantly nudged it forward and it responded to her commands easily. Apocalypse turned back towards her, his eyes turning to a silver as he raised his hands and fired an unimaginable about of data-energy at her. She reacted on instinct, mimicing the Celestial's memories and did the same. A swarm of data met Apocalypses own in midair, and her surfboard started to moving, letting her move out of the way as the blast overtook the spot she had been floating a moment later.

 

_"You're stronger than you appear, mutant. But I have spent centuries honing my connection to the Celestial's armor. I know it's secrets, and it's history. I know all!"_

 

Marley shook her head, feeling her concentration be tugged away by arguing outside her physical body. The armor slipped away, and she was left floating in the void.

 

"Shut. Up. You're both really distracting." She snapped, trying to pull back the data. But it was all symbols again, and she couldn't find the threads that had made her into a Silver Surfer. She threw herself out of the way as another blast tore through the air, clipping her heel.

 

_**The Xandarian Worldmind was completely eradicated by a man calling himself Kang the Time Conquerer shortly before it was brought online. Everyone who worked with the project was found brutally murdered and all information related to it destroyed.** _

 

This time the images were of 500 golden helmets lying on tables with red star shaped gems on their forehead. Information on the manipulation of gravitational energies... It was so overwhelming as all the related knowledge tried to fill her brain. She pushed it away, and felt a golden helmet form over her head, and felt herself becoming aware of gravity. Before she could really think about what was happening, she felt her her entire body surge upwards, out of the way of the next blast, and then closing the distance to lay a strike against Apocalypse's face. This time, he was seperated from the cylinder that made up the 'ground'. Marley pressed the advantage, flying after him and laying blow after blow against him as his body floated limply.

 

And then she was jerked back to reality, as something like a cannonball hit her in the chest.

 

* * *

 

 

Unique was furious, as she grappled with Apocalypse forcing him to focus on her. Kurt Hummel was ducking and dodging around laying electrified blows. Puck had flown back in to help retrieve Kitty and Tina, who had been knocked away with one powerful swipe. Kurt was barely helpful, since he only had one glove. The other, that had been streaming electricity to Apocalypse constantly to stop him shapeshifting, had been completely obliterated with a single blast.

 

"ENOUGH!" Apocalypse finally yelled, twisting his arms, and spinning Unique around to let her take the next strike. Then he raised his hand, and Unique only just had chance to put herself between him and Kurt. She grabbed him tight in her arms, and let the blast rocket her into the air. She spun them around in the air, and smashed into the ground back first, striking a tree and turning it to splinters as they skipped along the ground like a stone. Someone screamed in the distance, but Unique couldn't lift her head.

 

Kurt climbed out of her arms, and stumbled towards the screaming, but Unique just stared at the sky, trying to draw in enough light that her back would stop feeling like a mass of jelly and broken bones.

 

"We're so screwed!" Ryder yelled somewhere in the distance, and Unique couldn't help but laugh. That was her boy, always saying the obvious half an hour after everyone else had noticed.

 

"We need to regroup." Jake's voice was strong, and Unique could imagine him looking at who was still around. "Who is still able to fight?"

 

"I can stop him doing anything to your technologies," Marley's voice was weaker, and Unique worried about her. She had to be pushing herself to the absolute limit...

 

"Okay, so Quinn, Sam, Puck, Ryder and Jake." Kurt said, his voice eerily calm. "I need to get on to the Bus."

 

She saw him pass out of the corner of her eye, running towards the large black airplane that they had flew in on. Already her bones were almost in one piece again, and she could feel sensation returning to her body, if not motor control yet.

 

"Okay, here's my plan. Sam's going to sneak in and use his nanobots to make En Sabah Nur feel exhausted. Ryder can teleport Quinn a few thousand feet up and drop her like a bomb. Whilst he's distracted, Puck throws me at him and I'll seperate him from his armor." Jake called it out, and everyone agreed and started running off to battle. Kitty had dug around and found a few S.H.I.E.L.D. files on the others, and shared it whilst they were living at Xaviers, which Jack was putting to great use. Unique let out a wheezing cough and stared at the sky praying she could pull herself together soon enough to help.

 

* * *

 

 

Jake felt the world falling apart around him, but he pushed forward as hard as he could. Obviously, Apocalypse hadn't worked out how to use his powers like the future version of Kitty had, so it was just a case of pushing forward against a wall of energy, rather than trying to withstand something that could kill him.

 

He was the distraction.

 

Somewhere outside of Apocalypses attention, Puck was dropping Sam off. Jake couldn't tell if that part of the plan had worked, but the next part would be pretty obvious. And when the energy beams failed, Jake watched as Quinn hit Apocalypse like a bullet. A shield of shimmering energy struck the giant, and he was flattened into the ground. It was supposed to be the final blow.

 

It wasn't.

 

Quinn was thrown again, down into the pit that had been the institute. Puck tried to fire at the giant, but a flicked tentacle like arm knocked him out of the sky, and then...

 

Pain.

 

Three metal bars pierced him in a second, pinning him to the ground. As he tried to morph around them, his body suddenly chilled, and he felt blinding pain radiate through his skull as he stopped still.

 

"You all have failed. I stand victorious." Apocalypse crooned, taking a slow step forward. "I will return the world to it's former glory."

 

"I don't think so." Kurt's voice called from high above, but Jake couldn't turn his head to see. In fact, the world was going dark, and he felt like he was bleeding. But... He couldn't bleed, could he? He didn't see much of the fight, his sight fading in and out. At one point, he got a look at Kurt, in an armor pulled together from a bunch of mismatched technology. And at another, he could swear he saw Sam floating in mid-air, with electricity all around him.

 

But... They both fell. Armor and technology useless. Apocalypse was damaged, but he was still completely conscious.

 

And then, in a flash, the battle was over. His armor sparked violently, and fell away from his body, as Ryder and Unique appeared behind the man, and in one swift motion, Unique reached out, and grabbed Apocalypse's skull.

 

And pulled.

 

* * *

 

 

Unique didn't even think twice about it. This man had tried to kill her repeatedly, and according to Marley, had maybe actually killed Sam. They had waited until she was strong enough, and Marley had insisted that Kurt and Sam had done something that had made him powerless for a little while.

 

She dropped the head easily, and turned to Ryder. "Find Sam. Just... Find who you can."

 

Ryder nodded, squeezing her shoulder gently before he vanished again, leaving her alone with Kurt who was looking at her in horror. Which didn't surprise her at all. It was like it had been before, the ex-members of the New Direction breezed through to a victory, and then would slide in and out of the Glee Club as it suited them, leaving the new members to deal with emergency after emergency.

 

It had carried over to this too. Kurt, and Quinn, and Puck and Sam and Tina... They got to be the bright and shiney heroes! S.H.I.E.L.D. thought they were basically back up Avengers. Whilst Unique, and Ryder, Marley, Jake and Kitty... They were mutants. Nobody knew who they were, and if they did... They'd probably end up being hated because they weren't human anymore.

 

"You killed him?" Kurt finally managed to get out, his voice high but rough, "You just..."

 

"I did what I had to." Unique said calmly, looking around. "Who knows if all these people will ever recover..."

 

"Well, he might have!" Kurt yelled gesturing to the body. "Who knows how far this thing has spread! We might be the only people alive in the world!"

 

Unique narrowed her eyes, crossng her arms. Kurt wanted to blame this on her, fine. But at least now the people who were alive would stay alive. Apocalypse had recovered from their attacks before, and they had to put him down completely to make sure he wouldn't again.

 

Before they could continue their arguement though, Ryder started flashing with people. First, a very dissorientated Quinn, followed by the Puckerman brothers, Jake holding Puck up on an obviously broken leg. Tina and Kitty were flashed in next, and then Marley.

 

But still no Sam. Unique lowered her head, and let out a long breath, eyes closed.

 

"Sam!" Kurt yelled, rushing past her. She opened her eyes, to see Ryder leaning over Sam's beaten and broken body. Marley rushed with him to join Ryder, but Unique just stared from afar as they all rushed around his body.

 

And then a second Helicarrier descended from the clouds above, the weird holograph-hiding thing flickering away. And then it started blasting down a voice.

 

"The bodies here are claimed by Hydra, including the experimental mutants. Stand down now..."

 

Already planes were launching from the collosal ship, and Kurt let out a long breath, looking around. "Who..."

 

"Jake, Me, Marley, Ryder and you." Unique said calmly, rolling her shoulders and moving towards the first ship.

 

"Wait!" Marley snapped, holding up her hand, and raising her hands. "Ryder, onto the ship in the middle and grab the staff."

 

Ryder's eyes widened, but vanished from existence, reappearing a moment later with The Staff. The thing that had started all of this for them.

 

And then Marley waved her hands and the planes returned to the Helicarrier. And then she made another gesture, and the engines roared to life, sending the ship straight upwards. Marley stared after it for a moment and then turned to the group, setting her shoulder. "Dealt with."

 

"What did you just do?" Kurt asked, his voice quiet.

 

"I just got rid of around 400 Nazis, who experimented on children and then killed them." Marley said calmly, looking around, "Who changed our lives forever."

 

"Twas a dark act, but a needed one." A voice called from the distance, and everyone turned to where Thor was forcing himself to his feet, obviously pained, but much closer to normal. "You saved many lives this day, speaker."

 

"You're..." Ryder looked around, as other people started to groan and force themselves upright. "Guys, everyone's okay!"

 

"Not everyone." Kurt muttered darkly, looking at the four of them, and then turning to Puck. "Let's get you onto the bus."

 

"I could take him," Ryder offered, but Kurt gave him a sharp look and let Puck lean his weight on him as they started back towards the black airship.

 

"We did what we had to," Jake said softly to the group, and took Marley's hand, and put a hand on Ryder's shoulder. "We have the rod."

 

"You have more than that, young warrior." Thor continued, moving closer his hand firmly grasping his hammer. "The rod is but a safety measure. The true power lies in the gem. It is truely an infinity gem. And the only reason why this universe has not fallen apart."

 

"Mr.... Uh... Thor?" Unique finally spoke again.

 

"You may call me Thor," the blonde god bowed his head slightly to Unique, "you are the one who killed Apocalypse, yes?"

 

"Yes," Unique bowed her head, "What... What happened here?"

 

"A Scholar would be able to tell you more. But I can tell you what Asgard says. When the four cornerstone are destroyed, many things become one. But the process is unstable, and would lead to universes colliding and destroying each other." Thor gestured to the crater that had been the mansion. "When the final cornerstone was shattered, I had... Memories. Worlds where the Asgardians are truely gods, and completely removed from the world..."

 

"Indeed," A weak voice came from the distance, and Unique turned to see Professor Xavier climbing back into his wheelchair and wincing. "I had a very interesting conversation with myself. We shared worlds that are... amazing in their own special ways." Xavier started to wheel himself forward in halting movements, until Ryder rushed over and helped push him to the group. "The world are sliding together as we speak. Mutants are coming into their powers, and buildings are appearing where they were not before."

 

"But we're at the center of the Reality-storm," Thor said with a sour expression, "in truth, I would have prefered to be outside of it, to change myself."

 

"So... Everyone outside of the area is going to become a merger of all the different versions of themselves?" Jake asked, crossing his arms and looking between them.

 

"Not at first. To begin with, there would be three different sets of memories all existing at the same time," Professor Xavier explained. "That's what is happening right now to most people. In time, those memories would drive people insane, leading to suicide, violence, and eventually the collapse of human civillization."

 

"But we won't?" Unique asked, looking around as the SHIELD agents and the Army started to form up on opposite sides and the Avengers were making their way towards them. Most of them peeled off before they reached the small grouping, to talk to either side, but Captain America and Tony Stark joined their conversation easily.

 

"So, what's the plan?"

 

"If we could harness the power of the Gem of the Mind, we could guide the transformation to some minor degree." Thor sugested, "We could make sure that our universe is the one that survives most unscathed, at the cost of... countless lives."

 

Captain America shook his head, "We can't make that decision. Do the other worlds have heroes?"

 

"Countless heroes," Thor agreed, "So, what is to happen instead?"

 

"You said the Mind Gem could guide the transformation?" Tony Stark asked, his hand twitching towards the rod. Ryder instinctively pulled it back. "What if we used it to mesh everything in the least destructive way?"

 

"That could work." Thor nodded, "but we would have to work quickly."

 

"I'll do it," Tony said, lunging for the staff. Ryder yanked it back again, and Thor snatched Tony's arm. "What?"

 

"We need someone well trained in the art of mindwork," Thor snapped, "you would squander the power and run out before you accomplished anything."

 

"I believe that leaves myself as the only person here capable," Professor Xavier offered his hand to Ryder who handed it to him easily, despite Tony Stark staring at them both. Unique watched as Professor Xavier gently pried the gem out, and closed his eyes. Around them, there was the sound of wind picking up and Unique closed her eyes covering her ears.

 

And then the world was gone.

 

* * *

 

 

Jake came to, gasping for breath. He forced himself over onto all fours, feeling the mud squish between his fingers. His entire body hurt, but he had to work out what was happening. He looked up first, expecting to see the Army's Helicarrier, but found it conspicuously absent. He forced himself to his feet, finding the battlefield curiously empty, except for the bodies of his team, and near the edge of the crater, Professor X and his team. He could see the moment Scott Summers saw him, and pointed it out to the team.

 

"Mr. Puckerman, how nice of you to join us." The Professor said, wheeling his chair over to them once more, "SHIELD were most unpleased to discover that you had vanished from the battle field. It pained me to tell them that I couldn't see you."

 

"You hid us from SHIELD?" Jake asked, frowning, "Why?"

 

"Because you are one of us, young man." Professor Xavier offered Jake a hand to help him upright, that Jake took thankfully. "It was very easy with my powers completely unlocked, as every mutants now is. Agent Hummel in particular seemed completely intent on finding you and having you all stand trial."

 

"I'd rather not think about that." Jake muttered, turning his head away, "So... What does the world look like?"

 

"Mostly the same," Professor Xavier crossed his fingers and leant back. "There's a few new countries, and a a few billion more people. The human mind is miraculously resilliant, and with the force of the infinity gem behind me, I've managed to fuse the minds together without damage."

 

"Where's the gem now?" Jake asked, looking around, "I mean, Thor made it seem like it was really dangerous..."

 

"The moment I was finished, the gem vanished." The Professor opened his hand and offered it to Jake as if to prove he wasn't holding it. "There isn't much left that we can do now, but keep going. There were a few thousand minds that I couldn't change, and one realities version won out over the rest. Usually the heroes of that world. Luckily, I was able to blend the minds of most of the people here. A few memories will be out of place, but..."

 

"So, The Avengers and your team are okay." Jake nodded, looking around. "What's the next step?"

 

"Rebuilding." Professor Xavier smiled, gesturing to the crater. "So many mutants are about now in the world, and they're going to need a safe place to learn."

 

"We can't really teach people anything?" Jake muttered, looking down.

 

"You can teach them how to survive." Professor Xavier said softly, frowning, "This isn't a good world, Jake, as you well know. And.."

 

"And?"

 

"Well, you may have noticed that the body of En Sabah Nur is not here anymore." Professor Xavier motioned. "A pale man with red eyes appared out of nowhere and vanished with his body."

 

"Sinister." Jake huffed, shaking his head. "Okay. We need somewhere to stay."

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You made it to the end! Congratulations! 
> 
> I imagine there may be some questions, so let me just answer the biggest one. This story was originally set to be twice as long, and contained a second story where in Kurt, Puck, Quinn, Tina and Sam would become this universes version of the New Avengers, using technology. This is still touched on vaguely throughout the story, mainly when discussing S.H.I.E.L.D. arriving at the school, when the Runaways are captured, and when they come together to fight Apocalypse. Still, I wanted to give a little explanation.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and have a fantastic day!


End file.
